How do I enforce a consent order?

[gracehedley]

Ex husband has not paid child maintenance as specified in consent order dated March 2013. My solicitor advised zero tolerance of this and indicated there was a procedure I could follow to enforce the consent order. Can anyone advise me how to go about it please? Reluctant to go back to solicitor for help as already spent £££££ on divorce. Thank you.

If he's an employee you can apply for an Attachment of Earnings Order. If you have a look at the Ministry Of Justice website you can find the form and list of fees (it'll be a flat fee, I haven't done one for a few yrs so can't remember what it is).

You have to issue the application at the court, backed up by a statement setting out the arrears, and requesting that the arrears and future payments are taken out of his salary. Eventually if he doesn't cough up the arrears the court will make the order and the employer does the rest.

If he isn't an employee it's a bit more tricky, but there are various methods. Post again to confirm his status.

My personal favourite is a warrant of execution. Relatively cheap compared to the alternatives. Gets the bailiffs sent round. Particularly useful if he owns a car, and encourages future obedience.

Thanks both. Am feeling a bit disillusioned with this - what is the point of having a consent order if they are so cumbersome to enforce? Am I missing a point somewhere ...

What alternative system can there be? You choose the most appropriate method of enforcement for your circumstances.

I had a similar problem with my ex-husband 4 years ago, when he decided to simply pay whatever figure he felt like for child maintenance each month rather than what the consent order had set out.

As the consent order was made in a County Court, I was able to file an 'Application for Registration of a Maintenance Order in a Magistrates Court'. I can't remember what it cost at the time, but I'm sure it wasn't more than £40 to do so.

The upshot of this was that, in my case, the enforcement dept of the Courts took over the responsibility of enforcing the payments, and my ex-husband has to pay them each month, and they in turn then pay the child maintenance into my bank account a few working days after that. Should he ever default on the payments, then the Courts have the authority to issue a warrant to bring him before the court, which appears to work wonders, because he hasn't missed a payment to date.