Ex’s and child maintenance payments

[Lo04]

My Ex is saying he’s going to reduce his child maintenance payment despite a court order and him still serving in the armed forces so I’m left with no choice but to go to CMO and I was wondering if any other mums could help me and advise me please.

Seriously I cannot be the only woman on here going through this with an ex wanting to change child maintenance payments and he’s still serving in the forces.

No you definitely won't be the only one.
I haven't used them since all the changes a few years back so can't really advise on how it all works now.
Ask MNHQ if they can move this into the lone parents section as you will likely get more replies there.

Hi, if he's active duty and refuses to pay the court ordered amount you need to contact his command ASAP! They can move the ball quickly and have his wages garnished. They will not play ball with a sleazy service member.

If you contact the CMS they will sort everything for you. Just tell them you want to have a 'direct pay' agreement to start with (as this doesn't cost either of you anything). If he doesn't make payments, you can then contact the CMS again to arrange a 'collection service' - this is where they take the money from his employer before he gets his wage, they then give this to you. The collection service takes a little of your maintenance and a bit more off of him.

Also, any payments he misses from the day they contact him (through the direct pay) will still get to you when you arrange the collection service. They'll split up his missed payments over the year and include it in the monthly collection payments.

Hope that makes sense!!

PS my ex is in the army too - His command would not be able to help at all, only the CMS. Ring them quickly because they'll only calculate amounts from when they first contact him!