How to prove baby daddy earns so much more

[mrsbeetobe]

Hi,

My ex who I've been separated from for over 10 years has suddenly gone self employed and has to now only pay £30 a month for our teenage son.

My ex lives in a 5 bedroom house.
Recently put solar panels on his roof.
Owns another home an hour away.
The self employment brought it to £40 a month which he contested to bring it down to £30.

This has to be some fraudulent claim? Doesn't it matter that he has assets in terms of 2 homes? And enough money for things like solar panels?

Could I report him to Inland Revenue?

YABU purely for using the term 'baby daddy' which is terrible enough by itself, but even worse and utterly irrelevant as your child is a teenager, not a baby.

I really despise men who go self-employed so that they can shirk their responsibilities. Unfortunately, a lot of them seem to do this. It happened to my friend, whose ex has his own business. He ended up paying £25 a month for their children.

What kind of real man wants to deprive their child of money?

This is one reason why the CMS needs to be more effective.

His ‘salary’ will be circa 12k, and the rest paid as dividends, expenses, or left in the business, and CMS will only assess him on salary, not assets. You can ask for a reconsideration if it looks like he’s living beyond his means, and has alternative income but the chances they’ll change anything are small. The structure doesn’t lend well to CMS payments, but its tax-efficient and is suggested by accountants, so it is not fraudulent.

You need to ask for a variation not a reconsideration. His lifestyle not matching his income should be reason enough.

i had £18,000 of arrears added to my case doing this in the same situation. Enforcement were good in making him pay it too, until the case became arrears only sadly.

OP, you say, “Doesn't it matter that he has assets in terms of 2 homes?” - to which the answer is, no, it really doesn’t. All the CMS cares about is income, and your DH has ensured that on paper, his earnings have gone down. It is, sadly, all too common for absent fathers to do this - my ex certainly did!

It was an easy thing to say rather than my ex of 10 years ago who is my teenagers father. I was also on the train home from work wanting to post it quickly. Thank you for focusing on the most important part of this post 🙃