PRH47BRIDGE! court order update

[BrianAndHisBalls]

Hello!

You helped me lots a while back when exh refused to pay a court order.

The Court Order was part of our divorce and stated exh had to pay half of dd's school fees on top of any CSA money.

He paid for a while then stopped.

I asked for it to be registered in the Magistrates Court from County Court (as I think you suggested and helped me with).

Has been trundling on since then. Various him ignoring letters, not turning up for court etc. The one time he did turn up he requested forms to 'defile' the debt but he never filed them. Anyway the court found in my favour and he was asked to pay me the money.

He didnt, so they called him back to court again, he didnt turn up, they gave him another chance and he had to appear today (or have a warrant issued for his arrest).

He turned up! Anyway he brought an outgoings summary with him. Id sent a letter to the court detailing that he is a solicitor/wasting court time/lies about outgoings/lied about being unemployed for 7 months to escape csa/hides income etc.

So the magistrates said he has to pay £200 a month for now then in a months time he has to present documentated income/outgoings, wage slips, bank statements etc and then they'll decide whether to up or down the amount he pays monthly.

Qquestion for you - will they want REAL proof, Ive no doubt he'll say he's paying his dad £500 a month rent (its actually £25 a week)?

He also said that he wants to 'vary' the original court order, they've told him to go back to the County Court for that if he wants to.

Can you vary an order simply? And if he manages it does he still have to pay the arrears he owes?

If he doesnt get the order varied what do I do about the fact that half the fees are more than £200 a month so he'll never actually pay the debt off?

Sorry for the questions and thank you for your help again, I am slowly getting somewhere!!!!

The magistrates should be looking for genuine proof. The only caveat I would put to that is that this is a civil matter so the standard of proof required is balance of probabilities rather than proof beyond reasonable doubt.

The welfare of your child will be the primary consideration when looking at whether or not to vary the order. Beyond that the court will be looking at whether there have been changes since the original order that justify a variation.

As he has not paid the money due under the original order this can be considered as contempt of court which could stop him from getting any variation. If he did get a variation whether or not he would have to pay off any arrears would depend on whether the court backdated the variation.

Just a point - the legal aid board at present (before they shut up shop) don't allow someone to set off against their income any rent they pay to a close family member, as that's likely to be abused. I presume he lodges with his father.

thank you again prh and resolution

yep - he says he lodges with his father to me but he could well pull a girlfriend out of the hat with an imaginary £1000 a month he pays towards her for rent

the only change since the order would be that he was made redundant, he has had a new job though for nearly a year. Welfare of child - she's been at the same school since she was 6months old (its from 3 months to 18 years). Don't know whether they'd take that into account,

Just a bit fed up now its being going on for ages. I was always terrified of not paying debts etc and had no idea it was so easy to just ignore a court order, ignore court letters, not bother turning up etc, its mad!

does his new job pay similarly to the job he had at the time of the order? If he does apply for a variation the court will go through exactly the same process that it went through to make the original order ie full financial disclosure from each side, consideration of income and outgoings, other assets, disabilities etc, first consideration being for the welfare of the children.

if little has changed since the original order then he is unlikely to get a variation. If he was redundant for a while and got into arrears on periodical payments, however, the court might wipe all or some of his arrears if they think it is fair to do so.

if they do vary downwards, they can backdate it but `i think not more than 6 months before the application

of course they could vary upwards if that was fair to do so, too...

The court has the power to backdate it all the way to the original application for the existing order. However, usually backdating only takes the variation back to the date of the application for a variation.

yes I thought I needed to look that up! Thanks. What is the 6 month period I'm thinking of? Enforcement of arrears?

Enforcement of arrears is 12 months, or you need leave. Try again freshmint. I fear a sleepless night for you.

bugger
what is 6 months? I'm sure there is something!!

can you tell that family law is not my usual field? he he he

The gestation period of a sloth is around 6 months I believe.

hahahahahaha
bastard
now I'll have to go and look it up and I'm so enjoying leafing through bankruptcy and personal insolvency reports

thing is, each month new debt gets added to the arrears but how do I claim that? Do I have to go back to court each time?

so when this started he owed me about £4k i think, its now on £6k but the order is for the original £4k. I dont know why i dont just give up