Child maintenance from self employed ex

[Loukey]

Hi,
looking for advice on what I am able to request from my ex. He’s about to go self employed, and we have always done the child maintenance between us. He’s never missed payments and pays the full amount based on the calculation.
previously I’ve asked for a full copy of his payslip at the start of each tax year to make sure we’re working off the right amount, but his income could change each month being self employed. Am I allowed to demand to see a copy of the invoices he sends out so I can see how much he’s earning?

Do you not trust him to carry on paying, then yes you can ask, but if it’s going to cause problems, think carefully. Do you think he’s going self employed to lower his payments, as seems to be the norm going by several posts on Mumsnet.

its not that I don’t trust him - he always pays and even pays for half of everything school related and when they need new things.
I don’t think he’s doing it to lower payments, he’s been made redundant from his last job and so is setting up on his own. I just don’t know about being self employed to know what kind of records he will have to keep and so what we use to determine the child maintenance

He will need to keep records of the business finances for tax reasons if nothing else. You can't demand to see those but you can ask.

His current partner said I wasn’t entitled to see his payslip either to confirm the amount he earns, but how else am I supposed to know what to base the maintenance calculation off?

Go through CMS.

I would tell you to go jump if you demanded to see my payslip. That is an overstep and a half. His current partner is right.

His current partner is correct. You have no right to demand to see his payslip. If you don't trust that he's telling you the truth about his earnings then you need to go through CMS.

If he's going self-employed then it's an incredibly annoying fact that you are on the back foot as CMS won't do much other than take his word for his earnings. Yes, that sucks. Honestly? If he's been paying what he should without complaint up until now then your best bet is probably to try to keep on his good side so that he carries on paying voluntarily. I know that this is an awful state of affairs but CMS are pretty useless when it comes to the self-employed.

If he pays every month and also pays for extra stuff, just let it go and trust him. Doesn’t sound like someone who is looking to not pay his way.

Well you're not.

You either trust him to pay a decent amount which it sounds like he does. Or you dont and you go to CMS and get probably less, and sour your relationship.

I know which I would do, but as they say "you do you"

You need to trust him, agree an amount between you that you're happy with and leave it at that. If he's paying on time and for other things he sounds decent.

Then after a year review it with him. Demanding to see proof of earnings is not on!

Seeing his invoices each month won't tell you anything as you would also need to see all his outgoings which may be weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually.

It is his end of year self assessment figures that will be needed. You might need to use estimated figures at first.

I agree. I wouldn't be showing my payslips or business transactions to an ex. It's overstepping to even ask.

You had absolutely no right to demand to see his payslips, you also have no right to demand to see his invoices.

If you disagree with the amount you receive then the “way you find out” is to go via CMS, they use the info provided to HMRC.