Maintenance payments

[Emm220884]

Hi all.
Hold tight, it could be a long one.
My darling! Ex husband has neglected to pay maintenance again. I go through stages of this with him. Generally previously if he wasn't getting his own way or wanted to get me to talk to him.

I've paid out for solicitors to contact him and ended up out of pocket because he just messed about all of the time.
I've never been down the CSA route, but looked on their calculator today and he's paying about £100 a month less than what he should be, he's paid the same amount for 14 years.

I have no idea where he lives now. His last address had to be found by a company working for my solicitor. Do I have to pay out again to find him or will they do all of this for me?

A lost mum, that really wants to just be left alone. At this point, I'm even considering not fighting for the payments and just trying to make ends meet myself ☹️

Hi, CMS will look to an extent but only based on minimal records from hmrc. They encourage you to find and send evidence to them where possible. Do you know where he works? If you don't know his address but they can confirm he works at the place you provide they can send his first letter there. The CMS is calculated from the date they receive the letter so it has to be sent to a 'confident address' (words they used).
You won't incur any charges from CMS, it's probably worth ringing them and talking through the process.
It sounds like CMS is needed to stop the control games however there is the risk he'll hide/not declare correct income. Unfortunately there are loopholes. May be worth a try.