Maintenance

[Broken1978]

I am in the final throes of divorcing my husband.

One of the reasons for divorcing him was his refusal to work and failure to contribute financially to our household (which includes his child from a previous relationship).

I’ve had to give him a substantial amount of money as a result of the divorce.

He is refusing to pay any maintenance despite now having considerable assets. I think it’s unlikely he will ever work. I agreed in the consent order that I would continue to pay the school fees.

I’d like to take him to court for maintenance pretty much the minute my decree absolue is pronounced.

He’s not seeing our 13 yr old son at all (son’s decision - he’s witnessed too much of his father’s behaviour) and has our youngest 2 daughters 4 nights out of 28. He doesn’t pay for anything and takes very little responsibility for anything.

What is the quickest way for me to action this? Do I need to go through the CMS website first?

Thank you.

If he has no earnings you won't get anything via CMS. Maintenance is based on earned income, not capital.

So straight to court?

I thought you could ask the CMS to take assets into consideration....I’m confused by their website though.

How much is the substantial amount you've had to give him? I remember reading that they would take into account over circa 32k in assets such as gold, coins etc, but the resulting maintenance payment isn't usually very big. I believe it excludes the home they live in.

I also believe (but I'm an accountant, not a lawyer) that after 12 months of court ordered maintenance either party can apply to the CMS to vary it.

After he’s paid for his new house, he’ll still have 7 figures sitting in his account.

Then deal with it as part of the divorce.?

I would deal with it as part of the divorce. Had the financial settlement been finalised? If he’s not earning you won’t get a penny.

There are only limited circumstances in which the courts can order child maintenance and they do not apply here. He does not consent to child maintenance and, as he refuses to work, his income is clearly below £156k. You do not say your child is disabled and you tell us you agreed to pay school fees in the consent order. You therefore cannot go to the courts for child maintenance.

However, the CMS can take his assets into account. You need to apply through them. I'm afraid that is the only way you will get any child maintenance from him.

Financial order has been signed and is with the judge.

Will apply through the CMS. No thankfully none of the children are disabled and I can well afford to keep them.

On principle though, I refuse to let this one go!

Thanks all. Much appreciated.

Good luck with CMS.
From what I gather you're looking at "notional income from assets" as he has no earnings or unearned income. CMS will take the net asset amount (cash I assume is what you're looking at) and designate to him a weekly income figure at the judgment debt rate (i.e. 8% divided by 52). So if he has 200k his weekly "income" figure for maintenance purposes would be £307 per week. You'd get child maintenance based on the 307. I'm not sure if there's a lower limit that they don't touch, ie he has cash of 200k but the first 50k is disregarded etc. I'm unsure if there's anything like that in the CMS ruling, its more complicated than anything I've had to deal with via them. Remember his house isn't taken into account, so if he decides to plough a load of money into that, it won't get touched. You'll be in for a fight in the first instance, as the CMS will come back with a nil award. You'll then need to apply for a variation, which based on assets in my experience can take quite a lot of time. Theres an upper limit though to what CMS will deal with, and after that they expect you to go court for an order, usually high earners but I'm not sure if those with high value assets would also fall in this category. In your case this isn't possible so if it breaches the upper maintenance limit (unsure what this is, not had to deal with this) you may end up finding you can't claim anything from him.

Thanks for that. Yes - it seems they assume an income of 8% on assets such as cash. When I put that figure into the CMS calculator it comes up with suggested amounts for each child so hopefully that indicates it is a case the CMS could handle.