I'm asking on behalf of a family member who has split with his partner. They have one child together plus two step children which are his partners from a previous relationship.I don't know the ins and outs of the break up but I don't think its relevant to my question anyway. It wasn't cheating or domestic violence I know that much.
It's been 5 months and his ex is trying to cut all contact between him and his toddler son. Things turned sour and it looks like he'll have to go to court for visitation. He would love contact with the step children too but as they're not his he doesn't think he'll have a leg to stand on.
I've advised him to keep the peace as best he can, keep records of everything, messages, maintenance payments which has all been fine. CSA are not involved but he has been transferring her money every month. He is living in a bedsit to stay in the area, working but not a massive earner.
When they were still together his partner wanted to take out a loan which was for a deposit on a house which they would both live in with the children. His mum acted as guarantor for the loan and they would both split the repayments (£300 each) every month. That went smoothly for a year with both of them paying. They both split the mortgage too and both still pay it.
Now his ex has stopped paying the loan repayments and is refusing to pay it leaving my family member to pay the full £600 plus half the mortgage leaving him with nothing left for child maintenance.
He is worried about this as if he defaults on the loan the burden falls to the guarantor (his mum) but if he's not paying child maintenance that doesn't look good either.
The loan is in his ex name, the £300 was being transferred for the loan, ex stopped paying without telling anyone and the payments started to be taken from his mums account so now he is paying his mum £600 per month for the loan.
Any advice for what he should do in his situation and how can at least document that the child maintenance money is now going on paying her share of the loan?
Would that even be an acceptable excuse for not paying the maintenance? They don't have anything in writing confirming they would split the repayments but I'm sure bank records would show that is how things have been paid previously.
He obviously wants the money to be spent on his children's care but he can't magic up another £300 a month, he's already living very frugally.
Thanks for any advice.