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Original poster

Has anyone done the REMO route for child maintenance?

393 replies

Legaldispair · 08/01/2023 09:57

So my ex husband is suppose to pay child maintenance, paid the minimum for a few years and last year I noticed CMS were using old information to work out what he should pay me as his salary had trebled and they have never recalculated, to cut a long story short I have a hearing soon about this as he continued to dispute it and HE took it to tribunal. THEN on top of that he moved to New York… has always threatened it, and has paid nothing for a year as he ‘doesn’t know what he is supposed to pay as there are no rules’ due to the fact him and myself are both UK citizens. Not even paying a contribution amount and not even bothering to look into it so I have had no choice but to go down the REMO route. Those papers have only just gone off to then as it took 6 months just to get these papers (CMS were dicking around in the mean time and not helping with this) so he owes me aLOT of money in under payments which I know America won’t be interested in and he hasn’t paid me for a year… has anyone actually had any success with the Remo route? I’m slowly running out of any positivity. I can’t afford legal help so I’m on my own.

can anyone share this experiences with me please? Anything I need to know that they don’t tell you etc?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
9
mommatoone · 25/08/2023 23:26

Okapimum · 25/08/2023 07:06

I don’t know why it’s taking so long. I assumed it may take many years for a resolution. I have got his address and all his contact details, and a Spanish court order that includes the child maintenance agreement, so my case should be straightforward. The REMO application was relatively easy, and after a few months I got a letter saying it was all being sent to REMO unit in London, to forward it to Spain. But that was that, nothing since (about 17 months now). REMO hasn’t replied to my emails requesting an update. I have also trying contacting the relevant authorities in Spain too, but no reply. So I can only hope that someone is on the case.

Show quote history

OP i feel your frustration. Im 3 years into this and its pissin me off! I ended up writing a letter to the Remo in London. Have you tried ringing them? I noticed on the correspondence i received that thres no contact number, but if you go on the website, there is one. The last lady I spoke to gave me a direct email for a caseworker or whatever they are called! Ive still not heard anything, but im gonna keep pestering them. Its an absolute piss take. Good luck. Let us know how you get on.

Sunchi · 30/08/2023 16:29

@ukmama78
Hi I've just read your post and the length of time you have been waiting seems unduly long to me. Once this goes to REMO in London it shouldn't take more than a few weeks for it to be sent to Spain.

I would certainly call them and follow that up with an urgent email. Make sure you mark the email urgent and if you have a case number quote that. Otherwise, mention your children's ages and country in which your ex is living.

REMO went through a number of changes last year - they closed down the Wales and London offices - and have had to recruit for the England office. Nevertheless, 17 months sounds extraordinary long.

Sunchi · 30/08/2023 16:35

@Okapimum
I think this reply should have gone to you:
Hi I've just read your post and the length of time you have been waiting seems unduly long to me. Once this goes to REMO in London it shouldn't take more than a few weeks for it to be sent to Spain.

I would certainly call them and follow that up with an urgent email. Make sure you mark the email urgent and if you have a case number quote that. Otherwise, mention your children's ages and country in which your ex is living.

REMO went through a number of changes last year - they closed down the Wales and London offices - and have had to recruit for the England office. Nevertheless, 17 months sounds extraordinary long.

Sunchi · 30/08/2023 16:39

@mommatoone
REMO are notorious for taking a long time due to COVID, a reorganisation which meant closing down 2 of their offices. They also have to train all the new staff in the England office. REMO itself has only a handful of employees.

3 years sounds like a very long time to me. In the end I made an official complaint and eventually took them to the Ombudsman. Suffice it to say, they found them negligent and I received compensation.

You do have to keep pestering them. I do think some people just slip through the net, like I did. Believe me, there are plenty of people who have been waiting years and they make monumental cockups.

Mummyofj · 30/08/2023 17:12

I am waiting for respond from Canadian solicitor. I am so nervous.

Is application to CMS overwritting normal court order agreement for child maintenance? My case taking 3 years now. Well 3 years took to hear back from REMO. In the meantime I was force to face CMS.

I am so stress why they always are lucky enough to not pay. 😰😰

Mummyofj · 30/08/2023 21:19

Canadian solicitor said he can do nothing. He advice me to put case in Canada from beginning to set child maintenance. They do not understand REMO. I done around 150 calls to solicitors and nothing back or they believed my ex written shit in motion.

What will happen if I will not respond to his appelation?

Should I have my own lawyer? Or left that to REMO? Is in Canada someone who will take my side through the REMO process?

Mummyofj · 30/08/2023 21:23

@Sunchi
Canadian solicitor said he can do nothing. He advice me to put case in Canada from beginning to set child maintenance. They do not understand REMO. I done around 150 calls to solicitors and nothing back or they believed my ex written shit in motion.

What will happen if I will not respond to his appelation?

Should I have my own lawyer? Or left that to REMO? Is in Canada someone who will take my side through the REMO process?

Serrina · 30/08/2023 21:50

Sunchi · 30/08/2023 16:39

@mommatoone
REMO are notorious for taking a long time due to COVID, a reorganisation which meant closing down 2 of their offices. They also have to train all the new staff in the England office. REMO itself has only a handful of employees.

3 years sounds like a very long time to me. In the end I made an official complaint and eventually took them to the Ombudsman. Suffice it to say, they found them negligent and I received compensation.

You do have to keep pestering them. I do think some people just slip through the net, like I did. Believe me, there are plenty of people who have been waiting years and they make monumental cockups.

How did you go about making your complaint and which ombudsman did you write to? I may end up having to do this myself

Serrina · 30/08/2023 21:52

Mummyofj · 30/08/2023 21:23

@Sunchi
Canadian solicitor said he can do nothing. He advice me to put case in Canada from beginning to set child maintenance. They do not understand REMO. I done around 150 calls to solicitors and nothing back or they believed my ex written shit in motion.

What will happen if I will not respond to his appelation?

Should I have my own lawyer? Or left that to REMO? Is in Canada someone who will take my side through the REMO process?

I would call Remo and explain the situation and ask what steps need to be taken from here.

Okapimum · 31/08/2023 07:26

What is REMO’s phone number? I called 0300 123 3034, and I get a msg saying that this service closed in 2018, and that if we have an inquiry we can either email them or send them a letter. Emailed them ([email protected]) 5 weeks ago, and all I get is an auto response, see below. I’ll post here if I get any luck on hearing back from them.

“Thank you for contacting the Maintenance Enforcement Business Centre.

Please accept this email as confirmation that your email has been received and placed in a queue. We are currently working on items received on 2 January 2023.

We are currently receiving a high volume of emails. Please can we ask you to give us enough time to complete the work. Please do not send chaser emails or duplicate emails as this slows down our response time.”

prh47bridge · 31/08/2023 07:34

The Maintenance Enforcement Business Centre can be contacted on 0203 831 7386.

Okapimum · 31/08/2023 07:52

prh47bridge · 31/08/2023 07:34

The Maintenance Enforcement Business Centre can be contacted on 0203 831 7386.

Thanks! I will try that later today.

mommatoone · 31/08/2023 12:14

Okapimum · 31/08/2023 07:52

Thanks! I will try that later today.

Show quote history

Just a heads up . I managed to finnal get through a few weeks ago and spoke to a lovely lady. She told me that there had been an update on my case, but she didnt have access to that information and i would have to send another fuckin email to a different team!!! Aarrgggh Im gonna go down the complaint route , i am quite frankly getting pissed off. Hope you get sorted x

mommatoone · 31/08/2023 12:16

Sunchi · 30/08/2023 16:39

@mommatoone
REMO are notorious for taking a long time due to COVID, a reorganisation which meant closing down 2 of their offices. They also have to train all the new staff in the England office. REMO itself has only a handful of employees.

3 years sounds like a very long time to me. In the end I made an official complaint and eventually took them to the Ombudsman. Suffice it to say, they found them negligent and I received compensation.

You do have to keep pestering them. I do think some people just slip through the net, like I did. Believe me, there are plenty of people who have been waiting years and they make monumental cockups.

Thank you for this. I know,the pandemic certainly has not helped matters. I am gonna send one more email then i am going down the complaint route.

Okapimum · 31/08/2023 13:01

mommatoone · 31/08/2023 12:14

Just a heads up . I managed to finnal get through a few weeks ago and spoke to a lovely lady. She told me that there had been an update on my case, but she didnt have access to that information and i would have to send another fuckin email to a different team!!! Aarrgggh Im gonna go down the complaint route , i am quite frankly getting pissed off. Hope you get sorted x

Show quote history

I got though today, spoke to a helpful guy who said that there is nothing new on my application 🙄which he found very unusual. So he had a chat with his colleague and told me to send another email ([email protected]) requesting an update, adding "/FAORO" to the end on my subject line (apparently this will make it quicker for the email to get to the other team). Apparently that will prompt them to chase it with the foreign relevant authorities. Not sure if this is going to change anything, but it was good to speak to a real person on REMO, and know that they are 'on it'.

Sunchi · 31/08/2023 13:07

@Okapimum @mommatoone
Yes, you have to follow the complaints procedure and take it as far as you can. The response from REMO and my local court (no MEBC in my day) was to basically dismiss my complaint, so I kept on writing back. They only bothered to take me seriously and respond to all the cock ups that they had made was after they had received a letter from the Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman.

To go down that route is not for the faint-hearted. I had chapter and verse on both institutions, so it was very difficult for them to squirm their way out of my complaints. However, I had first to leave in my complaint to my MP, then the Ombudsman had to decide if my complaint was worthy of investigation, which it was. All in all it took about 18 months.

Have you tried contacting your MP?

Sunchi · 31/08/2023 13:09

@Okapimum Brilliant that you got an answer from a human being!

Sunchi · 31/08/2023 13:12

@Mummyofj REMO send the case to Canada for the Canadian court to decide what level of maintenance should be set. REMO appoint a solicitor in Canada to work on your behalf. What is decided will be down to Canadian law and not British law.

It appears that so few people know about REMO despite it being around since the 1970s. It's unbelievable.

Okapimum · 31/08/2023 13:14

Sunchi · 31/08/2023 13:07

@Okapimum @mommatoone
Yes, you have to follow the complaints procedure and take it as far as you can. The response from REMO and my local court (no MEBC in my day) was to basically dismiss my complaint, so I kept on writing back. They only bothered to take me seriously and respond to all the cock ups that they had made was after they had received a letter from the Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman.

To go down that route is not for the faint-hearted. I had chapter and verse on both institutions, so it was very difficult for them to squirm their way out of my complaints. However, I had first to leave in my complaint to my MP, then the Ombudsman had to decide if my complaint was worthy of investigation, which it was. All in all it took about 18 months.

Have you tried contacting your MP?

Contacting my MP would be my next step. My MP is quite responsive, I heard positive outcomes of other people contacting our MP regarding CMS, etc.

Sunchi · 31/08/2023 13:19

@Okapimum Yes, I would get on to that pronto as I don't think the situation is going to get any better.

During my application, their KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for processing initial applications was 5 working days and 20 working days for all correspondence after that. This also included translation work.

When I spoke to a senior case worker in January, he said he didn't recognise those numbers.

Obviously from the email replies that people are receiving, it's now around 5 months! It's outrageous. Such a shockingly poor service.

Mummyofj · 31/08/2023 13:20

@Sunchi is the application TO TRIBUNAL CHAMBER about CMS decision to open the case in CMS (made by my Wx at that time living in Canada) is more important than child maintenance order made by Familly court?

My ex is saying that application to CMS that when through the CMS and first tire trubunach chamber is more important than Court Order.

mommatoone · 31/08/2023 14:09

Sunchi · 31/08/2023 13:07

@Okapimum @mommatoone
Yes, you have to follow the complaints procedure and take it as far as you can. The response from REMO and my local court (no MEBC in my day) was to basically dismiss my complaint, so I kept on writing back. They only bothered to take me seriously and respond to all the cock ups that they had made was after they had received a letter from the Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman.

To go down that route is not for the faint-hearted. I had chapter and verse on both institutions, so it was very difficult for them to squirm their way out of my complaints. However, I had first to leave in my complaint to my MP, then the Ombudsman had to decide if my complaint was worthy of investigation, which it was. All in all it took about 18 months.

Have you tried contacting your MP?

Thank you so much for this- its really helpful
I am going to do this now. Rang again this morning- no change. Its just so bloody frustrating / time consuming isnt it?No to mention the financial strain . Im more than happy to get stuck into them!. God, ive been trying to chase my shitbag ex round Spain for the last few years, this will be a walk in the park!🤣

Sunchi · 31/08/2023 14:24

@mommatoone It is as you say extremely frustrating and time-consuming. I just think the lack of response is shocking. Unfortunately, REMO is only a handling agent, which means they are only obligated to check your paperwork and send it to the country where your ex is living. Then wait for it to come back to them. They do not monitor paperwork and are not active in pursuing your case. So, of course, your paperwork could be stuck anywhere in that chain. It's bleepedy-bleep stupid. And so many people are left hanging. Then if anything goes awry, they have no idea what is going on.

I was fortunate in that I was able to contact my case worker in Sweden and we had regular email correspondence. If it hadn't been for that, I have no idea what would have happened. I know at one time, Sweden were about to close my case as they had not received paperwork from the court in Cardiff.

If you have your case number and any correspondence from the foreign authorities, then you should be able to contact them direct.

mommatoone · 31/08/2023 15:12

Sunchi · 31/08/2023 14:24

@mommatoone It is as you say extremely frustrating and time-consuming. I just think the lack of response is shocking. Unfortunately, REMO is only a handling agent, which means they are only obligated to check your paperwork and send it to the country where your ex is living. Then wait for it to come back to them. They do not monitor paperwork and are not active in pursuing your case. So, of course, your paperwork could be stuck anywhere in that chain. It's bleepedy-bleep stupid. And so many people are left hanging. Then if anything goes awry, they have no idea what is going on.

I was fortunate in that I was able to contact my case worker in Sweden and we had regular email correspondence. If it hadn't been for that, I have no idea what would have happened. I know at one time, Sweden were about to close my case as they had not received paperwork from the court in Cardiff.

If you have your case number and any correspondence from the foreign authorities, then you should be able to contact them direct.

Thankyou. I would much rather contact someone directly. Saves time. The last i heard after 3 years was that thought they had found an address for him. That's it. Nothing. Im gonna keep pestering them. Even if they turn around to say they cant locate him. At least ive tried. Good luck to everyone. Please come back and update, I (as im sure others have) , have found this thread really helpful.