Ex stopped maintenance

[Fairydust999]

HI everyone, i'm new and this is my first post here, so hello!!

My ex and I have 2 children together. He also has 2 other children. I realised yesterday that my ex had stopped maintenance payments so i contacted the CSA. They called back today. My ex had not called them to notify them of this, he simply cancelled his standing order. They did some investigating and found out that he had his other children living with him now and he had putin a claim for child benefit for them and had cancelled the maintenance payments. They called back later after having spoken to him and they asked if he would be paying and he simply refused. He said his claim for child benefit for the other 2 children had been refused. Nothing more was said.

The CSA said they were contacting his employer since they have all the details and they will arrange to have maintenance deducted from his salary.

I just wondered if anyone had been in a similar situation and does it all work out ok in the end as so far the CSA seem very helpful.

Thanks for reading.

Sounds like a very difficult situation. Do you have any contact with him at all? Do you know the background of the relationship between him and the mother of his other children?

If his other children have suddenly come to live with him that, to me, indicates a fair amount of upheaval and possibly upset. If he is trying to sort out the Child Benefit that almost certainly means that he is trying to sort out the financial position and CB can take up to 8 weeks to be transferred even if all involved are in agreement. If his other ex is being difficult (and thus his claim has been refused), it can take much longer, and the CB is the key to who gets paid maintenance.

The CSA are not terribly good (IMO) at dealing with situations that are not textbook and are not at liberty to share with you all the information. Also if they continue to take money from him at the current level and he eventually gets a reassessment based on a change in circs, then his payments will be reduced by the reassessment amount AND by an amount to pay back the overpayment (and the CSA will not care if that leaves your children worse of).

None of this excuses leaving you and your children short, but the situation may be a bit difficult.

Really it depends on whether he is refusing because he genuinely can't afford to pay due to his changed circs until the money for the other children is sorted (and bear in mind that if the other ex is being difficult the CSA may be demanding that he pay her maintenance for the children he now has living with him) or whether he's just trying it on. You know him best!