Aibu to expect payment of CM from ex

[Cirmhor13]

Aibu to expect my ex to pay CM for the first 3 months our split before CMS agreed a value. Ex thinks as was out of contract at the time they dont need to and CMS wont backdate!
Its nearly £900 and i was willing to accept instalments. Also hasnt paid last 5 weeks but promises will pay next week. Screwed up xmas for me and kids as had to use my xmas budget to compensate. And yes i work full time but i still have 3 kids to look after and pay bills on one wage.
Now has cut contact and i dont know if i should escalate with CMS or wait and see.
Total is now £1200. Thats alot of money in my world!

What do you mean by out of contract? Do you mean he wasn’t working?

Its a she and she is a matetnity nurse so works contracts between 1 week to 6 months. At the time she lost a contract but did find a couple short term ones. She earns alot when she works but just before she left she was out of work for 6 months.

If they didn't have a job how would they have paid?

Yes yabu sadly.
In terms of how cms works.
If she's not working she doesn't have to pay.
I wish they counted savings.

She earns between 30 and 40 thousand a year. Just because she wasnt in contract at that exact time doesnt mean she doesnt have money. She works for periods thvn has time off. Ie 3 months on 1 to 3 months off. Its not like a normal job. She works at the minute 12hours/5 days a week and earns £900 a week gross. Currently in a 6 month contract. So no cm is based on annual income for self employed. Still has to pay weekly even if not in contract. My issue is that initially she had the money but didnt pay as she promised. Hence why it took 3 months to get CM in place. I trusted her to pay for our son and she didnt. Not until i got cm involved. Even now she hasnt paid since mid November!

Cms only start from when you claim and even then any shortfall between them giving a payment and nrp paying just goes to arrears to be paid up. You aren't necessarily being U but there isn't really much you can do