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Child maintenance when self employed.

4 replies

Emboo19 · 16/06/2018 21:03

Ex is generally very good with maintenance. Although we aren’t getting on so well at the moment and he does try to use it as some sort of control at times.
He told me this week that he’s starting his own business with a friend. He’s talked about this before and I don’t think it’s to avoid paying maintenance. But he has said he might have to reduce what he pays for a while, until things get going. On the upside he’ll hopefully be able to have dd more often.

We have a private arrangement and he’s always been fair. But I guess I’m just trying to get some idea of how maintenance works when self employed. I do know he’s worked with some people who’ve purposely worked for themselves to get away with paying less. Surely that can only work if you’re also lying to hmrc though, can’t it? Or is there more legal ways to work it. And surely if the usually income is £500 a week if employed if you say you only get £100 for the same job being self employed, someone somewhere is going to say “hang on a minute”! So is it more likely to reduce slightly but maybe not massively so.

Hopefully he’ll continue to be fair, but I’m just trying to prepare and know if there’s anything I can do if he isn’t.

OP posts:
IamReginaFalange · 16/06/2018 21:04

Sadly I think this is typical behaviour for men that don’t want to pay. It’s a way not pay legally.

Emboo19 · 16/06/2018 21:22

I know some do that, but how IamReginaFalange? He surely can’t just make up an amount that he earns and tell cms that’s it? Can he?

OP posts:
IamReginaFalange · 17/06/2018 09:42

I think it’s pretty much a legal loophole that they can get away with doing. My ex has informed me he’s going self employed soon so I feel your pain.

Emboo19 · 17/06/2018 10:30

Yes, I’ve been reading up on it a bit and it seems there’s a few legal ways they can hide their true income. Not right at all! But not much that can be done, I don’t think.

I don’t think he’d stop paying it anything, he pays more than he has to at the moment. But I don’t like that I won’t know a minimum amount that I should be getting. It feels like that gives him even more control over it, which isn’t fair and obviously not so easy to budget as a single mum if he changes amounts.

Parents who don’t pay fair maintenance when they should/can are despicable though. No way I’d be in a relationship with someone who didn’t pay fairly for his children!

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