Error in law

[mumoftwoplus1]

Hi

Hoping someone here can shed some light for me. Exp refuses to pay CM for 10yo DC and when CMS got involved he quit his job and became self employed to avoid paying tax and CM. It's been over 5 years now of not paying CM and around 20years of not paying any income tax on his extensive rental portfolio

After a hearing at HM courts and tribunal service, the judge was bound by the terms of regulations to refuse my appeal, despite it being noted that his profit of 245k has been organised in such a manner that no tax is paid on this by claiming 'losses' of exactly 245k

My local citizens advice bureau are no longer in operation and the nearest one to me can't take this on as they can only help people within that area I have contacted a solicitor to help me out with this as I find it all very confusing to say the least and I can't make head nor tail of all the legal jargon but I have been advised that it's not something a solicitor can help with as it's deemed to be something the individual has to do them self.

So in order for me to appeal the decision, I must find an error in law regarding the refusal reasons. I'm on my own and cannot figure out the 6 pages of very technically detailed legal info 🥺

This is my only hope to get this the upper tribunal and I fear I now have to give up

What to do? I'm pretty devastated tbh

I have reported eco to HMRC fraud department no less than 7 times now. As far as I'm aware, no investigation or other action has taken place They are either completely uninterested that people can dodge tax or don't have the man power to deal with it.

In the mean time, my DC misses out on financial help and is at a disadvantage because of this

Can anyone help me or guide me to someone who could help me?

Thank you for reading this far

You can appeal to an Upper Tribunal on a point of law, and thereafter by judicial review.

This is not something you can do without legal advice. It will be costly though. As a family solicitor I know my way around CMS appeals reasonably well but even I would go to a specialist barrister for something like this.

Have you tried applying for a variation on the ground of diversion of income?

@Collaborate thank you for the reply. It means a lot! I guess my main issue is that I don't know how to present the grounds of appeal, I have a 6 page document here with the statement of reasons as to why my appeal was refused and I need to find an error in law, I've tried on so many occasions to make sense of it but I can't, it's just so technical in legal jargon ☹️I've called approximately 10 separate solicitor firms and they have all told me they don't take on cases like this, some because it's not a big enough case and some told me 'the powers that be say these kind of things are down to the individual to do by themselves'.

As I'm not legally trained I am really struggling to figure out where or if at all there has been an error in law. I guess that parents having a legal responsibility to pay child support wouldn't be good enough to put in my appeal letter.

It feels as if it's being made very easy for men like this to evade tax/cm payments and people like myself have zero help/support with taking them on and getting justice. I wasn't aware there are specially trained barristers in CM cases so thank you for the information.

I have asked CMS for this however they accept the same answer from DC father which is that he simply has zero income. CMS accept everything he says as truth

Bump

Just to note that my user name is the same as my previous user name, save for the no.2 - I have kept this user name similar purely to show I am the same person. (New computer - old stuff not moved over yet).

Anyway, I concur with Collaborate on the issue of finding an error in law - usually they are fairly obvious to a lawyer, so if so many have turned you down, I suspect it isn't obvious at all, which might imply there isn't one - and if you want someone to review it all to double check, it's going to cost you quite a bit on someone's hourly rate.

So I have an alternative suggestion, since you are currently battling with the CMS who are effectively toothless when it comes to people who are smart enough to use tax avoidance to make it look like they have no income. You mention in your post that the father has a portfolio of properties - which presumably are in a limited company, and if he is the sole director it will be obvious the only beneficiary is him.

If that is the case, you may be better off dropping your CMS claim and going after one of the properties - via a Schedule 1, Children Act 1989 financial claim. You will still need a solicitor - but this is a much more straightforward route than searching for an error in law in an appeal.

Be aware that the claim is for the benefit of the child - the court can order maintenance, a lump sum or transfer of property. Since full financial disclosure by both parties is required, it will be a bit more difficult for the father to hide his assets.

The court cannot order maintenance - CMS still retains sole jurisdiction.

As said above, you can claim maintenance got children through the courts under schedule 1. It's risky as there is no legal aid and if you lose, you're on the hook for costs. It's generally used when one party is wealthy and the parties aren't married. Claims against premiership footballers are particularly common I understand. It's not my area but, as suggested above, I can see how it might work where someone has little income but extensive capital.

It's wrong but you're throwing money and time at something that you are not going to win. If you're self employed it is all too easy to cheat the system.
Spend it on the child, you can't force his dad to be anything he doesn't want to be but you can be the best mother you can .

Hi and thank you to everyone who has added to this thread, I'm taking in everything you're saying and it's much appreciated.

I spoke with a solicitor who knows CM law in depth and she has given me lots of really good advice. She has advised me on what she thinks is a potential error in law so I have written to the tribunal service to appeal the decision.

Apparently 9/10 times the appeals are refused in which case I can then apply directly to the upper tier tribunal. Fingers crossed I get somewhere with this.

@RedHelenB you're right, I can't force him to pay if he doesn't want to and I should absolutely focus all my time and effort in being the best mum I can be. I did this for five whole years and just decided to let it go and not be bothered about it. However this is my last stab at it and then I can say I tried everything. I also want to fight so my son realises this isn't acceptable behaviour and perhaps one day I'll show him all the paperwork. It's states that his finances wouldn't stand up under scrutiny etc so pretty much shows his dad is a liar. My biggest fear is that he believes what his dad says 'that because I collect you from your house and buy clothes for you plus feed you when you're with me, I don't need to pay CM'

It also enrages me that he leads a very lavish lifestyle where I can't even afford to send my son to the sports club he wants to go to with all his friends if I got somewhere with this, it would all be worth it to be able to say yes you can go to this club

Hope you do get somewhere but even if the appeal is upheld you still need to physically get the money. A lot of delaying tactics and before you know it your son is an adult.