minute of agreement

[attheendofmyteatheragain]

Hi I'm hoping someone can shed some light for me as I can't seem to find an answer online

with a minute of agreement, which is likely to be drawn up between myself and exp, can things such as child maintenance be included??

my exp is wealthy, and is not working at the moment, I am definitely not wealthy! but need cm to pay childcare etc and unfortunately he likes to stop paying whenever he feels like it

I have applied to cms but it will take a good 4-6 weeks to process and I need the money yesterday

Child maintenance can be agreed and included in a separation agreement if both parents agree. However in England & Wales separation agreements aren't legally binding or enforceable. If there are problems with non payment the court cannot normally make an order for child maintenance in the same terms as a separation agreement. When child maintenance is included in a consent order it is binding and enforceable.

In Scotland it's different. Child maintenance included in a separation agreement has legal standing and is enforceable. After 12 months though either parent can apply to the Child Maintenance Service and the separation agreement will cease to have any effect with regard to child maintenance.

Meant to say negotiating, drafting and (in Scotland) registering an agreement won't necessarily be any quicker than the CMS processing an application.

Thank you stidw

that's good to know. it looks likely that a minute of agreement will be drawn up very soon between exp and myself, and would very much like cm to be included in it, as I am fed up with his threats and ultimatums about cm if he doesn't get what he wants, and now in this case, his complete refusal to pay at all he has about 7 properties which he owns and rents out. which happen to be undeclared to the tax man. (I have shopped him in, and hoping something comes of it if he hasn't already put his properties into his brothers name)

arrgh! it's very frustrating when I know he is more than able to pay cm but refuses to as he is is incredibly immature, and y ds then suffers because of this. he's is currently not working so unless hmrc come back with something, my cms application will be a nil assessment

Thank you again

apologies for repeating myself in my last post

if this minute of agreement goes through, and he does agree to pay again, the sum which he normally does (which I guess will be higher than what cms would award-although it is a bit of a pittance) after the year, if he is still unemployed, my worry is that it will drop a lot, to whatever cms decides he can afford. but I suppose I'm getting way ahead of myself here, and will just need to cross that bridge when it comes