Children's Act Schedule 1 when modest income/assets

[zenhamster]

My ex-partner and father of our 5 year old DD is taking me to court for the 2nd time in 2 years to change CAO despite no clear benefit to our child, and contact going ahead regularly. Shared residence order already in place from his last CAO Application.
He wants to remove indirect contact for our child with me whilst she is with him as just one example of something he wants to change to suit his wants better. No clear reason why this would benefit DD.

I have incurred significant costs due to these court cases he has brought and have suffered disruption to my earning capability and career opportunities due to this, having our daughter and the subsequent need to move out of the city.
We were together for 3 years. Met him when I had just finished university, he is 15 years older than me and has a wealthy family. We did plan to marry but then after I had DD he never asked me. We were together for 2 years before having DD.
I was 25 when I had our daughter, was living with him in his house, had no savings, was working at minimum wage and when I left the relationship due to domestic violence and drug use on his part, I had nothing.
I moved out of his house we shared because I couldn't take the memories and he always drummed it into me that it was his house. We now have shared residence order due to court basically saying "Don't see why not" despite Cafcass recommending DD live with me and spend time with him. My legal aid barrister overlooked this at Final Hearing.

Ex was paying a privately agreed small sum of child maintenance, which he has always refused to make a standing order or direct debit and puts it in my account manually every month, often I have to ask for it/remind him.

Due to his anger at me, he has now reduced the child maintenance to the bare minimum that he states CMS calculator says he should pay, as a consequence. The calculation must be based on a very low income declaration he is claiming...but due to his lifestyle I don't see how he can earn so little.

I am really struggling to pay my bills... I can hardly afford my rent for the house DD lives in with me (majority with me) I am thinking about having to use the local food bank. We have had a very insecure housing situation since I left him, we have lived in 3 different houses and now on our 4th over 4.5 years. I have no hope of creating any financial security yself for DD. Yet he owns a half a million pound property which I think he has recently sold, and he turns up to pick DD up in designer trainers and clothes ... I can't currently afford to buy DD a new pair of wellies as she has grown out of hers last winter.
I can't afford to pay for chimney sweep to add fire instead of central heating, and as we are in a cottage the heating bills are so high. I am really struggling, we might have to move again, but I can't afford to move. He is self-employed but in his profession he can earn around £40/hour and for one off events up to £500 for a day. But he chooses not to work very much - part time at best.

Can I claim under Sch 1 ...? in order for things to be more fair in terms of housing... I am on benefits and self employed but only doing 16 hours and not really making much money after costs of running business as I can't get enough clients due to the ongoing court cases, stress, appointments, DD care, for example I've had to cancel a client tomorrow morning as I need to take DD to the doctor as she's really poorly this evening.

Any advice? Thank you

Go for it.

You need to go through CMS for your child maintenance to ensure you get regular payments.
Your landlord needs to organise sweeping the chimney, it's not your responsibility.
I'm afraid he's entitled to do a CAO. What doesn't he want changing?

@collaborate - thanks for response - was that a go for it as in "might be a good option/likely to have a legitimate claim/case there?" ?

@soontobe60 - Thank you, I have been afraid to do CMS as I know he hides income and I fear I will get even less... or he will ask for even more overnights when our DD is already stressed with the amount of back and forth because he sees that if he has more overnights, he has to pay less by CMS calculator. He is the one who wants to change things in the existing CAO that he got last summer in previous proceedings.... like I said without going into too much detail one of the main things he wants is to to remove the part which allows for indirect contact eg. phone call to me or facetime for our DD over the time period she's with him in holidays for example periods of more than 2 days ... he says no need for her to have contact with me/that it's disruptive for her. Whereas if she's with him for 5 or 6 days and he doesn't facilitate her calling me at all during that time period she is incredibly anxious and clingy for days and angry at me when she come she comes back to my house. I am also concerned he doesn't meet her needs as she has additional needs and he denies them, blames me for them, tells her she is pretending, shames her and shouts at her for them. This isn't happening currently as he knows CAFCASS will speak to her but it's what was happening after first CAO and contact increased.
He still wasn't happy with CAO 100% so instead of collaborate with me by email or in mediation to compromise or agree/talk about DD's needs together, he is taking me to court again to vary CAO and get court to make decision as he says we can't agree... despite him not offering any compromise and in fact him moving the goal posts even further in mediation.
His decision to do this has placed a huge strain on all of us, and the court's resources, and taken nearly another year, just so he can push through what he wants, as got a good outcome of what he wanted last time. He is using court to continue control and abuse towards me as he can't do it in relationship anymore.

You have the makings of a good/arguable case to have a property made available for you to use with your child.

Ive been told going to court for a schedule 1 costs 20-30k and is diificult to get unless high wealth involved. Thats what my solicitor told me anyway last week, as my ex is threatening me with it! Solicitor told me not to worry as it'll never happen. Good luck!

Sorry, forgot to add. However you may be entitled to legal aid to help cover court costs, especially if domestic abuse involved (but you will have to prove it)

You have the makings of a good/arguable case to have a property made available for you to use with your child
Collaborate, can you expand as to why?

OP's ex has no responsibility for her, only his daughter. She is renting, has somewhere to live, why should he provide a property to her?

How much maintenance is he currently paying? Court proceedings are very stressful but ultimately, it is his right just at his mum's right to use it.

I think you need to move on and accept that this man owes you nothing, only to his daughter and you need to concentrate on your future. You have a degree so surely a mean to earning more than minimum wage. Your girl is 5, in school, it's time to think about yourself.

How many nights does he currently have?

Collaborate, can you expand as to why?

Not with sufficient detail to serve as a full professional advice. OP is going to have to source that for herself.

Father is sitting on the proceeds of sale of a £0.5m property. Unless you think the court is going to completely ignore Schedule 1 of the Children Act, you have a combination of resources and jurisdiction.

0.5 million is not worth it. Thats an average house, at least, in the South East.

It may some as a surprise to you, but people do live outside of the South East bubble.

I shouldn't have mentioned South East as that, to be honest, isn't relevant. It has already been stated that "Father is sitting on the proceeds of sale of a £0.5m property" regardless of where in the country this may be. All I am saying is I do not think it worth going to court and paying 20-30k in legal costs to fight something the OP is not legally entitled to. That being said you need to speak to a solicitor/lawyer and get professional advice on what you are entitled to in regards support from ex for helping to house your children, for which you ARE legally entitled to persue.

I am unmarried and recently my ex GF split up (after 26 years). We are deferring the sale on our family home in order to house the kids. That being said, she was legally entitled to half the house as a joint tenant.

As Collaborate, who is a solicitor, says, the OP is likely to have a Schedule 1 claim. That is what she asked about. She is entitled to it. So she won't be fighting something she is not legally entitled to.

I know this is an old thread so hoping you’re still active. She says he’s recently sold a o.5 mil property and you say “go for it there’s provision that he could provide you a house”, the guy works part time and could have been in negative equity on the sold property for all you know. Schedule 1 has no jurisdiction if his earnings are under 3k a week, she needed to find out his yearly income and unless he’s earning over 200k a year then it’s not worth it!

Digging up a 3 year old post. Bully for you.

This thread concerns (in so far as I was posting) capital provision not income, so not sure what point you’re trying to make, or whether it’s worth my energy to respond further.

Oh great you are still here! She cannot claim capital provision just because a man owned a marginally expensive property that could have been mortgaged up to the eyeballs. I have revived the thread to give the knowledge to anybody else who is in this position reading….owning and then selling a property means nothing in the eyes of child maintenance. She would need to prove he earns in excess of £3000 per week and that he had half a mill from the sale of a property sat in his bank. A solicitor wouldn’t even look at it before there was proof he’s over CMS threshold, that has to be proven before proceedings begin. I don’t want anyone reading here thinking that because their ex lives in a large property then sells it that means they’re in for a big payday 🤦🏼‍♀️

I suggest you read my post again. You are referring to a claim for maintenance. I was referring to a capital claim. You are barking up the wrong tree.