Court ordered child maintenance

[beatriceprior]

Hi

Does anyone have any experience of court ordered child maintenance.

If the father of my child has an amount specified by a court of what he has to pay, what happens if he doesn't pay it?

Tia

You go back to court to get it enforced or get the CMS to claim if the amount would be the same. There is a leaflet on the government website detailing options if an order is not being followed

What has gotten me down is that it's took a year to get this far.

12 months after the court order he can ask the cms to lower the amount which they will.

We then have to start the whole process again.

I think if he decides to go through cms after 12 months then there would be no point going back to court as you wouldn't get more than cms anyway?

Unless he is a really high earner? If he earns more than 3k per week (£156k gross less pension per year) then you can go back to claim more.

He is self employed.

To OP

Either partner can apply to the CMS once the court order has been in place for 12 months or more. CMS then have jurisdiction and courts will usually no longer be involved unless the paying parent earns over the CMS limit specified by the poster basicbasic.

CMS seem to struggle with those who are self employed. So be prepared for a long and difficult journey.

Good luck.

You can still enforce (through the court) any arrears accrued before the CMS get involved.