csa!! Would they be able to help??

[furiousmotherof2]

my ex part owns his own Ltd company ( 50/50 ) he's stopped paying a court order as my oldest girl has turned 18, he was paying £200 per month but has now reduced it to £100 even though my eldest is at college and is going to university in sept, i have told him to pay the extra £100 but he's such an obnoxious that i know he will not,
has anyone any experience, and/or advice please as i'm at my wits end

CMS will only assess whilst child benefit is paid, but it is percentage of income not number of children. However, if he owns a limited company he could drop his salary and increase his dividends which for some reason the CMS struggle to assess so you may end up worse off.

Thanks, I suspect he would, he did this when we divorced 10yrs ago, his work partner hates him so I don't think he'd agree to fiddle there income to save my ex money, I still receive child benefit and believe it's now payable to the age of 20 whilst she's in further education

What did the court order specify? Should he still be paying for the eldest (legally I mean)? Morally of course he should

But your daughter is now an adult, I would begrudge paying the RP parent too. It should go direct to the daughter. She’s more than capable of working part time like many other students to fund her extra curricular activities and put money towards the house outgoings.
At 18, her father should be helping her directly but your daughter should be asking him if she needs financial assistance. She isn’t a child anymore so these are conversation that they should be having. Even more so if she’s off to uni.

It all comes down to, what does the court order say?

On a side note, he should of course be paying towards the youngests upkeep

University is classed as higher education, not further so come September he won't legally have to support her. But whilst she is in college and you receive CB he should still be paying the amount dictated by CMS or court order. He however doesn't have to pay it to you he can directly pay her as she is now an adult and as such she can ask him herself for financial assistance. It's shit. I get £98 a month if I'm lucky for 2 young DC. DP has to pay £410 for his 3 and one of those is 18 and in college too.

My husband continued to pay for his son as instructed by the CSA till he was 19, he didn't contest this as he was happy to provide albeit that went directly to his sons mother, oh how I wish my ex was like my husband!

Are you registered with CMS I had to last night for the first time, you phone in the first instance and they were really great answering all my questions.

What's CMS?

CMS is now the replacement of CSA

Oh I see, thank you, I hope they can help I've given my ex till tomorrow to sort it and if not I'll proceed via the CMS.... 99.9% certain I will be phoning them!

If you do, it’s a awkward process, I had to phone CMS options where I was interviewed (interrogated) including some rather personal questions.

It was a bit of a shock, I asked if I had to answer, I thought they were too intrusive but she explained it was to establish if I needed additional emotional support from linked agencies.

I was then given a reference and put through to another department which was very straight forward and you open an online account to enable you to track progress.

I think my ex has retired (age 50) taken a lump sum pension to reduce income and thereby avoid paying maintenance good luck!

You will need to check the wording of the court order and have a copy ready for when he says I've got a court order.

Thanks for everyone's advice, it really is appreciated

So you have two children and your refer to as such “my eldest” etc. Is your ex only a step parent then? I’m assuming the children are his too?
As others have mentioned, it’s really not hard to avoid paying with a limited company and there is more than one way to pay yourself. Pensions, shares, dividends etc. For example he could pay a good 60% in pension for the next year or so or until cash give up. He could simply leave his share of the equity in the company and pay himself minimum wage and take a taxable lump sum next year.
If I were you I would ask him to give the money directly to his eldest or at least put it in a fund.
You’ll likely get nothing until csa pull their finger out.