Advice on getting maintenance if ex works abroad

[jaehm501]

Hi, I'm new on here and need some advice. My ex currently pays me little child support, I have asked him many times if he will raise it as my daughter is now 11 and his payment has remained the same since she was 2. To cut a long story short, I contacted csa to see what they could do to help. They sent him a letter and he said that if I continued with trying to get more money...He would move abroad. He works on the gas rigs and relocated to Thailand for a year. He has a property in England but csa said they couldn't touch him as he was working abroad. He returned to live in England but apparently he is working for a Dutch company now .... csa still said that they cannot help me. He has our daughter for one week a.month after dragging me through court 3 times to get full access ( the judge got so fed up with him that he warned him never to make any more applications) I want to get what is fair for my child, he earns 45k a year and gives me 130 per month. If I took him to court do you think i would stand a chance of getting him to pay more ?

CSA actually now known as CMS (Child Maintenance Services) only deal with cases where all Parties live in the UK. If the Paying Partner works outside the UK there is a mechanism called REMO (Reciprocal Enforcement Maintenance Order). Court in UK could issue an Order and it would have to be enforced overseas. I don't know anyone who has ever used REMO, but get the feeling it may be a long process as I can't see other Countries moving very quickly to help someone outside of their Country.

If your Husband is based in the UK he should be filing Tax Returns to HMRC which CMS can access unless there is some deal been made that the Dutch Company pays him offshore?

If you know Ex's National Insurance Number it may help CMS.

Thanks for your reply, he laughed and told me that I couldn't touch him because he was paid by his company and therefore cms couldn't do anything. I've not heard of remo before so will look into it. He must be paying British tax for his house etc , but I don't know his NI number. It seems that he's always one step in front of me. I'm on a low wage and trying so hard to provide for my daughter

If you know the name of his employer it may make it easier for CMS to trace him. Do you know where he lives?

Meanwhile have you claimed all of your entitlements? Child benefit, child tax credit, reduced council tax as only adult in the house. Maybe even help with childcare costs while you are working?

I have a court order. I get less that he paid when he was in the uk but better then nothing.

My solicitor advised against a remo because of how lengthy the process is. It also helped that my ex is in a European country where a UK court order would be enforced.

I'm not sure of a remos reach as to whether it would be enforceable in countries like Thailand.

Disheartening isn't it that they can up and leave responsibility of caring for their own children without a backward glance.

Cut off all contact.

Cut off all contact

Bad idea. Access and Maintenance are not connected. Courts won't like that access is restricted or denied just because there is a dispute over maintenance.

I did cut off all contact because he abandoned his daughter, but wound up in court over child access, he initially received 8 days every 8 weeks but then stated that I had mental health issues so wanted full custody !!!! ( I suffered from depression 10 years ago ) after 4 court hearings he now has her for one week in every 4. He's an habitual liar, I could go on and on about the things he's done for example, he told our daughter at 8 yrs old that there was a good possibility that she would develop breast cancer as it was prevalent in his family , it took the court judge to persuade him to have the relevant tests done, he's only just had them done. I know he works for a Dutch company off the coast of Holland in the North Sea.

Sorry I pressed post instead of deleting as I had realised I was late picking kids up. I meant to say cut the phone and internet access. For example if they Skype say you can't pay for the internet and if he wants to Skype he has to pay for your internet, if he doesn't want to pay for the internet give him the option of calling at a friend's place, your phone may or may not be connected so could he write to you and sort a time.
Inconvenience him, let your financial situation become his problem too. Block him from calling you. He can still see his child, but it's going to be a huge pain for him to organise.
You won't get any money from him if he works outside the UK, he can laugh in your face when you ask for money. But eventually he is going to get sick of you making his life difficult.

I know he works for a Dutch company off the coast of Holland in the North Sea

So where is he resident? UK or Holland? If Holland it will make things more difficult and time consuming, but it is EU and has a REMO agreement.

My understanding is that CMS can back date payments to date when you first applied. So make an application. It will cost you 20 pounds, but a least you have got the ball rolling.

Oil and Gas does not pay what it used to, but working offshore should still pay a decent salary/day rate. So I would say it is worth chasing Child Maintenance.

So where is he resident? UK or Holland? If Holland it will make things more difficult and time consuming, but it is EU and has a REMO agreement.

I wonder what will happen after Brexit ? Presumably that will have to be renegotiated ?

He lives in UK, I tried yesterday with cms, paid the £20 only for them to say that they prob couldn't touch him as it is a foreign company he works for. Had an in-depth convo and they are going to approach him but I know he will get away with it again. Does anyone know how much it would cost to take him to court ?

CMS jurisdiction is based on residence, not the country he's paid in. They definitely have jurisdiction. See s44 of the CSA 1991 www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1991/48/section/44/enacted. Go back to them and tell them to do their job. Whilst they may not be able to enforce payment from source, they have a large number of alternative enforcement methods they can use.

CMS jurisdiction is based on residence, not the country he's paid in. They definitely have jurisdiction

Correct. I work mostly out of UK, but I am paid through my own UK Registered Ltd Company. Salary and unearned income such as dividends and rental income all have to be declared on the HMRC Self Assessment Tax Return.

Even if someone was not UK resident, but have a UK source of Income (eg renting out a house) it could be assessed by CMS as such income is subject to UK Tax.

Good luck OP and don't let CMS fob you off. It took me several weeks to get my application sorted as people I dealt with were convinced that as I was out of UK they could not process the application. Only when they received copy of the HMRC Tax return that showed I was a UK Tax Payer did they make an assessment.

I wonder what will happen after Brexit ? Presumably that will have to be renegotiated ?

Logically the Brexit Negotiations would cover issues such as REMO as UK has REMO agreements throughout the World. It is not just limited to EU.

However, judging by progress made so far I would guess that Child Maintenance issues will be well down the list?

Does anyone know how much it would cost to take him to court ?

Might not be necessary as CMS are entitled to demand copies of Payslips, Copy of Contract if he employed by foreign Company and any other documents they consider necessary. Your ex can be fined heavily if he refuses to provide the requested documents.

CMS also have access to HMRC so will be able to see his Tax Returns. If he is employed by a Foreign Company it is likely that the terms of his contract are that he is responsible for Tax Affairs in his Country of Residence and company will only deal with Taxation in their native Country. So he should be filing Tax Returns. If he has not HMRC will likely ask questions.

Suggest you register on the CMS Self Service website as you can send messages, upload documents and any calls you make to CMS will be tracked. Hopefully you do not end up going down the Tribunal Route, but having records will help if you are forced to take things to a higher level.

CMS are not the slickest of organizations and don;t be surprised if every time you call you end up speaking to a different person and hear different versions of how things should be done.

Good luck and don't give up.