Ex won't pay maintenance

[MrsChiefTyrell]

Hoping someone here will have experience of this.

My ex refuses to pay maintenance. She was sacked from her job 6 months ago and hasn't paid a penny since. She is now working self employed, rents a nice house, drives a nice car and has the kids every other weekend BUT refuses to pay maintenance, contribute to any costs of clubs or lessons or anything at all. To top it off she has the cheek to ask me to provide the children with XYZ items to send with them when they go to her for the weekend.

She's self employed so I don't think CMS will be able to force her to pay as she doesn't declare her earnings, works cash in hand and her business isn't even registered with HMRC.

I want to write to ger to try and explain why she should pay maintenance, that it is her legal responsibility to financially support the children and try and get her to see that it negatively affects them when she won't contribute. I work but only part time as they are both young still. She has recently said that because I get the Child Benefit that covers the cost and so she doesn't see why she should pay maintenance. She has a Solicitor who often writes me pretty blunt letters (usually full of inaccuracies she's lied about) so I could always write via them..

Any help with wording this letter or any good points to make would be appreciated.

She sounds like my X. My X's solicitor sent a letter to mock me for being in receipt of benefits (whilst he paid nothing)

Did she want primary care? my x didn't want that. he just wanted me to be the one to make all the financial sacrifice. But if your x wanted to be the one to care for the children then maybe she is trying to sort out residency first. It's just unusual. I'm not unsympathetic though.

She wanted equal Shared Residency, 50:50 not full Residency - she's never had full Residency.

Does she have shared residency ? or every weekend?

I guess you have the option to go to court and sort it all out properly. That's what I had to do in the end. I had never ever prevented my x from seeing the children but he'd never paid a penny maintenance so I suddenly thought, what have I got to fear from court!? He and his mother had tried to portray me as mad because I'd left him! Such a ludicrously Victorian definition of mad. woman leaves man therefore she must be hysterical and mad. So anyway, that's what I suggest, if you have less to fear from a judge's ruling than she does, go to court. It was the best 2k I ever spent.

Well stop providing anything for when the dc are with them beyond the clothes they go in...