Has anyone done the REMO route for child maintenance?

[Legaldispair]

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?

So you are at the final stages of your REMO! I am glad to hear that you have got an order in place (even though it took you 3 years...). I am not sure how the payments are actually made when an order is in place, or what to do if you don't receive the money. But knowing that your case has reached this stage gives me hope! Please keep us posted on how it goes.

I will do

That's awful, I'm so sorry you have to go through this. I'm still waiting on them to review my paperwork, but from what I've seen to date I'm not impressed. Try to contact the representative in New Zealand, maybe they will be able to assist further. I hope it works out for you. But please don't despair, we need to keep fighting what is due to the children as their right.

@Cazza38 Hi, I have been involved with the REMO process since 2008 and due to cutbacks, MEBC office closures and COVID, the process now seems to be taking so much longer. Their systems and processes still seem archaic and they have so few staff that you don't get a case worker. Thankfully, in many other countries, processes are much more efficient, but applications still get caught up this end.

Payments will be paid to you via the organization responsible for enforcing your child maintenance payments. Some countries still deal in cheques rather than international payments paid directly into your bank account. If NZ uses cheques (it's more like to be the US) then these are sent to REMO in London, who will then send them to you.

Your application will be processed according to NZ law and if your ex refuses to pay, then the next step would be some kind of legal enforcement. As someone said above, this could be seizure of property, but more than likely, deduction from wages. I'm sure if you google it, you should find this info quite easily.

You can also look at the Hague Convention website, which I posted earlier in the month, to find the name of the authority dealing with your case in NZ and try and contact them for more info. REMO doesn't like applicants doing this - and I understand why - but if you've been waiting years without a reply, then contacting them directly and getting a reply, will give you peace of mind.

Recently, I have sent emails to gingerbread, Kemi Badenoch MP, AnneLiese Dodds, my MP and an organisation called single parents rights to try and get visibility for parents who are seeking child maintenance from abroad.

So far, only holding responses although my MP did tell me that there had been significant cutbacks to legal services.

Thank u all so much for ur advice I was being to thing that it had all been pointless fighting for

@Cazza38
If a parent lives overseas | New Zealand Ministry of Justice
Applying for child support from a 2007 Child Support convention country (ird.govt.nz)

@Cazza38 No,it is not pointless. Remember you are doing it for your children. I received no money from my ex for 10 years, but because he stupidly took me to court again here 12 years after our divorce, the order came back to bite him in the bum and we are still getting money from him! Result.

I tried contacting new zealand on the list that was on the hcch but they have told me my case is not though them I'm still trying to get a reponse from the mebc but no such luck feeling deflated but I'll keep chasing I guess and I would like to know the next stage as the order is confirmed in new zealand and payment was due the 20 th Oct but I have no idea who is meant to be enforcing it at the mo

@Cazza38 Do you have a case number and any paperwork from REMO that has come from NZ?

@Cazza38 Well done for contacting NZ anyway, even though they say it's not them. Did they say who or which organisation is in charge of your application?

No case number from new Zealand just emails from English mebc

All I know is the case went though north shore family court I believe

@Cazza38 Hmm, usually you get a case number either from the UK courts or from the NZ ones. Is there anyway you can contact that court, which seems like a local one?

@Cazza38 North Shore | Ōkahukura Family Court | New Zealand Ministry of Justice

I've really no idea I've got a ref number that comes on the emails is that the case number or just mebc ref I'm really confused as to what is happening

Contact the court there. You must have a reference number. Call or email them. Don't give up or feel deflated. You've got this!

To the op off the post I hope u manage to get ur maintaince payments sorted I've never known so much stress as to trying to get the other person to pay there way with maintenance it's almost like they just don't care

J@bleughgreen but that wouldn’t do anything…. He’s a narcissistic bully, all it would do is make him come for me, again and I don’t need that. He has no morals so it certainly wouldn’t make him suddenly have a conscience sadly so would be a huge waste of money that I don’t have.

@Cazza38 i don’t think I’ll get anywhere. I wish the new law that has come into play about DV and child maintenance was already in place but doesn’t apply to me due to how long ago it was. If it wasn’t a vast amount of money I wouldn’t bother but it’s huge to me..

@Cazza38 is it the same ref number on every piece of correspondence?

It is always the same ref that heads the email I spoke to gentleman in the English remo team and they asked to be cc'd in on the email I last recieved from the mebc so I replied to the email and copied them in I rang back and spoke with them after sending the email and they have contacted the new zealand authouries themselfs and told me to call again if I get no reponse by the 20th November and he will chase it all again at the moment it seems that the order is confirmed but no one is responsible for making sure is enforced

@Cazza38 do you have a phone number for the English Remo team, I tried ringing them last week but the number isn't working 😕

@serrina 020 3681 2757 is number I got though on

@Cazza38 It sound like you might need to wait until the 20th Nov. But raise an official complaint against the MEBC, if you haven’t done so. They need to get back to you within 10 days. You may not get the answer you need, but a senior manager will carry out a review of your case.

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-courts-and-tribunals-service/about/complaints-procedure

I have also raised a complaint to the justice system of the other country (Spain on my case), and got a reply back within a few days. The reply was a bit general, saying they’ve requested an update from the relevant authority in Spain, and will send the update to REMO England asap. But at least they confirmed they’ve received my application and told me my case number. I hope this puts some pressure on them, to get things moving.