CMS nonsense...help please

[nodeerinere]

Hi all,

Just after some pointers really as everything on Google etc is all about this from the woman's perspective and I am trying to get my head around it.

My partner was awarded 50:50 of his children. It states in the court order that they have two homes. His ex has told CMS that he doesn't share the day to day care and therefore they are pursing him for continued child maintenance. He was asked to provide proof of various things, which he duly did. They rejected the dispute.

He is going to have to take it to tribunal (which in itself is ridiculous - ie ex said he wasn't a contact on GP/school/dentist and he provided evidence to the contrary! He pays for half of their extra curricular clubs - did this even when paying child maintenance!)

He's now been contacted, as he stopped payments when awarded 50:50, and then was in dispute, that she had reported him for non payments and he now has to pay to avoid it being taken from his salary - despite being in dispute and taking it to tribunal.

He's never going to see that money again?! I have zero doubt that he will win the tribunal because his ex has just lied and lied and he has proof to the contrary (that the cms can't possibly consider). Does anyone know what he would then do about the almost 1k he paid her unnecessarily?

I get it - I have an ex who is USELESS and this system would protect me if I needed it but my god, it penalises men who are actually good...

It's so frustrating. This has just been a bit of a rant really but anyone with any tips - would be so appreciated!

Thanks :)

Contact your mp. When exh was counter claiming me at every turn they got involved. How old are dc? Once ds 14 wrote and signed his own letter stating he lived with me.

Guess he would need to go to court to get it back…probs not worth the hassle and expense

I'd also get MP involved and start a counter claim for cms in the meantime, could he claim child benefit if entitled? Make sure all expenses are paid with a paper trail. Don't pay for clubs etc in cash

Did the MP thing and they wrote to CMS. He had a phone call from CMS today as a result and basically they said all the same information as before. He's lodged a complaint but my god, is it a completely inept service/processes or does he seem to manage to just speak to the wrong staff?!

He's got the whole paper trail etc - what was the point in submitting to cms to show her bullshit when they just say no?!

He earns over 50k so can't claim child benefit.

Children in their teens. Already being far too "involved" by their mother and don't want to harm them - she's cancelled clubs citing "issues with the money from dad" and has then blown a fuse when he contacted the school to pay for it.

Arghhhh!!

I know....it's just totally shit! Especially as he has proved everything she has said is factually incorrect yet the cms just WON'T sign it off!

She can claim CM assuming she is the one in receipt of child benefit? He’s probably still going to have to pay.

https://watson-thomas.co.uk/help-and-advice/31-help-and-advice-children/182-child-maintenance-when-you-have-an-equal-share-in-parenting

As he has shared day to day care, he shouldn't be liable for any child maintenance (this is stated on gov website). However ex is refusing to confirm he does.

He can't receive child benefit as he earns over threshold.

If the overnights are exactly 50/50 neither parent is liable to pay, been through it myself

He earns over £50k per year and the amount in dispute is less than £1k?

CMS is still liable sometimes on 50/50. It hangs on the child benefit. My friend has just been through this and was told her claim.was successful as she applied for CB first

Does he have them for half of the OVERNIGHTS? That’s the litmus test.

Absolutely not true. They take information from child benefit but is nothing to do with 50/50

We've been there op, dhs ex also lied and we never got the money she owed us, or money back we'd had to pay her. Cms couldn't give less of a shit.

Weirdly, they listened to me when I called and not dh, have you tried that?

They did then go on to fuck up in other ways though and then ignored my complaint so it's not foolproof.

If there is a big disparity in income then yes sometimes maintenance is still due even on 50/50 care. Make sure you know this isn't the reason for the confusion.

I'm sure I have seen on here, mother's complaining that a father deliberately overpayed then claimed they had overpayed with CMS who reduced their payment for the rest of the year so there is obviously a mechanism for this. Could you tell CMS that an overpayment has been made and you want to reduce remaining payments for X amount of time?

Your DP needs to provide the court order to CMS to prove there are 2 homes. At tribunal, he needs to explain that under regulation 50 of the Child Support Maintenance Calculation Regulation 2012 he is to be treated as RP alongside mum. There is no NRP as there is equal day to day shared care.

Your partner, regardless of income, can apply to CB to have this split throughout the year (6 months each). He needs to update CB with the revised shared care as per court order.

I would wave goodbye to any overpaid money in honesty. CMS should pay this back and then chase mum for it, but they won't and will just say to take it via small claims.

There is a mechanism for it, we used it. They worked it out wrong, I rang them and did the maths for them, they then never actioned it. I called to complain. Nothing happened. They said they'd tried to contact us but never did. Gave up in the end as we knew the ex wouldn't ever voluntarily give it back anyway.

Things are in place but they're extraordinarily shit (from both sides)

And she doesn’t, therein there’s a difference in income.

Child maintenance is there so the child can live the same quality of life in each household. He will need to pay.

@Mummame222
That isn’t why CMS is there or there would be plenty of cases whereby they RP had to pay the NRP CMS….the RP isn’t always the worst off.

Have you provided them with a copy of your court order?

Is it 50/50 of overnights? CMS is worked out by how often the children sleep at yours, days without staying over do not count.

You can escalate it and say you’ve made an overpayment which will trigger an investigation. If you use the CMS portal you can send copies of the court order online, and bank statements etc.

Op has already said they've provided proof of various things so I'm assuming they've done that, and that they probably know its based on overnights.

That's shit! Seems completely random as to what bit they can or can't do depending on location although seems consistently broken generally. System needs an overhaul!

My DH had massive issues with CMS. It did eventually get resolved but it took months (actually might have been over a year!) and lots of phone calls, complaints, emails etc.
Only thing I would say is make sure you keep a paper trail of everything. Keep pushing and good luck!

I didn’t say they were. There are cases where the RP has to pay.

@Mummame222
You said CMS was there to maiming lifestyles across homes:
Child maintenance is there so the child can live the same quality of life in each household. He will need to pay.