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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

John learns to adult

806 replies

R0SEMARY · 30/05/2021 00:12

Thread 2 - many thanks to @GAHgamel for the thread title. And to everyone else who has supported and advised me thus far.

OP posts:
pointythings · 23/06/2021 19:51

Well, your email only strategy is going to come in very handy!

R0SEMARY · 23/06/2021 20:02

I’m sure he believes that I’ve turned the kids against him. But he’s done (and is doing ) that all by himself.

Refusing to pay child support / trying to pay it to the kids instead will backfire on him very badly. My kids can use google even if he can’t.

OP posts:
youvegottenminuteslynn · 23/06/2021 21:23

It's so satisfying imagining him mansplaining the law to a female legal professional or ten in the coming months, isn't it?! He will be baffled at their refusal to bow down to his superior knowledge and just bloody LEARN from him, the ungrateful wenches.

Jumpingintosummer · 23/06/2021 21:49

I would save the HMRC call for post financial settlement… I seem to have stumbled upon this in a box of old papers innocent smile.

whynotwhatknot · 23/06/2021 22:55

Oh deary me fiddling tax aswell...............

SpringCrocus · 23/06/2021 23:31

Oh dear me. Oh dear me. Oh deary, deary dear me.
He's fucked himself, has he 🙄😂😂

Justilou1 · 24/06/2021 04:32

Shot himself in BOTH feet. Lucky he’s not a tap dancer.

L0bstersLass · 24/06/2021 08:52

*John ignored that and did his own figures. Gosh I hope HMRC never find out about that because it would cost him a lot more than the child / spousal maintenance he is disputing&

Oh dear!

Ellie56 · 24/06/2021 09:10

Funnily enough I have a copy of his last tax return. He fiddled it.

I told him it was wrong. I got an accountants opinion and the accountant told him it was wrong and gave him the correct calculation.

John ignored that and did his own figures. Gosh I hope HMRC never find out about that because it would cost him a lot more than the child /spousal maintenance he is disputing.

@R0SEMARY

Wouldn't it be a real shame if HMRC found out about this..?

PensionsYes · 24/06/2021 09:42

@R0SEMARY I’m gobsmacked at the gall of the ‘man’ but finding his arrogance very funny.

Good luck getting him out of your hair forever.

R0SEMARY · 24/06/2021 10:16

You’re right @Ellie56, I guess John has to keep his fingers crossed that HMRC don’t notice. Though even if they do, I’m sure they won’t mind. They are well known for being very understanding and reasonable people to deal with Grin.

And it’s not as if John has a history of disputes with the local tax office. Oh no, wait …..I just remembered something else.

It’s so odd, all sorts of memories keep coming back to me.

OP posts:
noideawhatusernametochoose · 24/06/2021 10:26

Rosemary, I've not commented before but have read with interest. My STBEX is a complete amateur compared with John. I take my hat off to you. He absolutely takes the biscuit.

I wonder if HRMC might "accidentally" find out things are not as reported by John? Wouldn't that be a shame....

Bonheurdupasse · 24/06/2021 10:58

@R0SEMARY

Keep hold of all these HRMC issues.
Don’t mention it to him.
Get your divorce/CM sorted fully (it will take a while).
Only when it’s set in stone by a court release the hounds.
The tax authorities definitely look at things retrospectively so no issue there.

beautifullymad · 24/06/2021 11:24

You need a SHL urgently. Get this before a family court ASAP. Whatever he can dispose of past 12 months of a judge demanding he fill in the financial declaration is legally lost in the system.

So if he's boxing clever and starts to liquidate assets and it comes before a judge 12 months later it's as if these assets never existed.

Just be warned. I had a clever exH who did this and assets do disappear and don't have to be mentioned after 12 months.

Get it together immediately even if you feel weak. Do this for your children if you don't feel you can do it for yourself.

Find out by ringing the courts today and speaking to someone. Then contact your solicitor.

I think also his earnings are too high to go though CSA. I think this too needs to go before the family courts. Do both together, today.

Best wishes, you've been fab. I'm so glad you have broken away from this poor excuse of a man.

Bluedeblue · 24/06/2021 11:28

I just wanted to pop on, and tell you that I was in almost your exact position, some 13 years ago. Husband in high powered, high paid role. Refused to help during the night with either of the babies, even when I begged. Wasn't a bad Dad, but he wasn't faithful and had also tried to kiss all of my friends. It took me 4 years to leave him. At that point we'd been together for 20 years. His whole family refused to ever speak to me again, because apparently, what he had done was "just a bit of fun", whereas I was "splitting up the family". This was a deeply religious Irish Catholic family - nice!

Like your Husband, he turned nasty and tried to shaft me out of money I was owed. He pleaded poverty, and didn't want me to take my half of his pension. Tried to pay less child support than he was meant to, by lying to the CSA about his income etc. He actually managed to convince the CSA that he earned £34,000, when in fact he earned £134,000. He told me that "he shouldn't have to pay Child Maintenance to fund my life style". The way he spoke, you'd think I was a yummy mummy, lunching with the girls, driving around in a land rover, when in fact, I was working part time, earning £1200pm, and trying to pay all of the bills and a new mortgage from that, whilst paying for our food on credit cards. He also came out with weird shit, like telling me that the kids could go and live in his parents loft 350 miles away? I mean, WTF?

His family thought I was the devil incarnate for going after his Pension. Erm, he only managed to hold down that big job, with big pension, because I sacrificed my job and pension in order to be the present parent doing everything at home, so no, we both had a equal claim to that.

My solicitor drew up an agreement, whereby his pension value and mine were added together and divided by two. He then bought me out of the house and had to pay me in cash for the pension part. He was incandescent with rage at this. He hand delivered a note to my new address, pleading all sorts of poverty that would befall him, should I pursue this route. I held firm. A few months later, he moved his new GF in to the marital home, and bought new carpets throughout, new curtains throughout, a brand new kitchen, a new car and a foreign holiday. Poverty, my arse!

Anyway, please please spend money on a good Solicitor. Mine cost about £1300, but it was so worth it. Take everything you can get, because this is your one chance. Get half the pension. Take copies of his pay slips for the CSA. Get the claim in, if you haven't already.

I am now happily married to someone else. The kids do see their Dad for the tight fisted (for no reason) arsehole that he is. They do love him still, but once children are adults, they can really see things clearly.

You need a very good solicitor and a separation agreement drawing up, asap.

ememem84 · 24/06/2021 11:52

wow Rosemary - you've been through it since i last hopped on the thread. stay strong. get paperwork filed as soon as you can.

a wise woman (my grandma) once told me that things will be alright in the end. and if its not alright its not the end.

you got this. and we've got you.

x

R0SEMARY · 24/06/2021 13:42

@Bluedeblue - sorry to hear of what you’ve been through with your ex. I laughed when I read

He told me that "he shouldn't have to pay Child Maintenance to fund my life style"

That’s exactly what John said - that I just wanted Child maintenance to fund my retirement! And also the “ lifestyle “ comments.

They obviously read the same script.

OP posts:
AcrossthePond55 · 24/06/2021 13:44

I'm in the US and here a spouse can be held jointly and severally liable for any tax debt occurring during the marriage. It can be fought, but that can get expensive once the lawyers become involved.

I obvs don't know the UK tax code, but far as him fiddling his return, just be sure that you wouldn't be liable for any of his tax debt before you turn him in.

Bluedeblue · 24/06/2021 14:34

Yeah, I don't get the whole not wanting to pay child maintenance? It's just another power trip, imo. Just hold firm, he doesn't have a leg to stand on! Be prepared for all sorts of nonsense. Mine turned nasty when he realised I wasn't going to change my mind about leaving. Assaulted me twice and also told me that sleeping with me had been like shagging a corpse - nice!

He is a tiny, weedy guy. I love the fact that my now DH is really tall, and broad and scares the shit out of him. We don't speak now, but back in the day, if ExH was upsetting me, my DH (then just a new BF) would tower over him and tell him to wind his neck in.

May I suggest, that in a few months time, you place a pair of muddy size 12 boots on your front step, without mentioning anything. See the brain cells whirring as he wonders if you're seeing someone. Ha!

R0SEMARY · 24/06/2021 14:36

Thanks for your post @AcrossthePond55 but it’s not the same where I live , we submit individual tax returns and are individually liable . I paid all the tax I was due.

OP posts:
R0SEMARY · 24/06/2021 14:47

And of course I would never dream of turning him in to HMRC - I can’t imagine why anyone would think that?

The only reason that the subject of tax returns even occurred to me was that a PP said that CMS would check his tax return to determine the child maintenance payable. So I don’t need to submit his payslips with my claim ( I don’t have them anyway). All I have is his employment contract and proof of his net pay every month for the last 2 years since he started in that job.

OP posts:
R0SEMARY · 24/06/2021 14:48

@Bluedeblue - I’m glad that you have found happiness now with a good man who treats you well.

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LadyDanburysHat · 24/06/2021 15:10

@R0SEMARY I have only recently come across your thread, and had a read of some of the previous one too. These men really do seem to have a script and feel that they shouldn't be responsible for their DC once a marriage breaks down. I'm so pleased for you that John is stupid enough to actually write this all down in email. It is going to be great when you go to court.

prettybird · 24/06/2021 15:17

Hopefully it won't have to go to court with such a wide disparity in real life obligations expectations: hopefully his real lawyer, if when he gets one, will disabuse him of the paltry amount he thinks is due. Wink

But I have my doubts Hmm

MrsTerryPratchett · 24/06/2021 15:29

And don't feel bad getting what you're owed when other women don't. Just bung a monthly donation to a women's charity and John's 'hard earned' money can help free other women from other Johns.

John would really hate that. Just in case the kids tell him at any point...