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hey guys
Looking for some advice on the CMS.
Long story cut short my partner was shafted by ex wife spring 2019 regarding maintenance, they had a good set up, but things went pair shaped and he ended up in a dispute with cms where she was saying he wasn't paying her a penny, yet he was paying all the clubs and commitments the children were signed up to at her request instead! In a bad mood one day she lied to CMS and wouldnt admit this, they wouldn't accept his evidence from direct debits to clubs etc as they say could be anything.
Fast forward, after alot of disputes he ended up having to do collect & pay is it? Where they take from wage? It was ridiculous and a struggle as they took an extra 20%. After 6 months it was upto her if he could pay direct she ignored and refused to speak with them, so another 6 months of him paying her indirect, now after a year she has no choice he pays direct.
He has now had conflicting letters saying you now pay your ex, then another saying you owe us each week X amount.
Then he got 2 letters 2 weeks apart saying you owe arrears of 6K and the 2nd letter said you owe another lot of arrears of 2.5K!! How can he owe any arrears, let alone 8.5k when they have been helping themselves to his wage for the last year?
Absolutely horrified, can't speak to anyone, and 12 weeks to get reply from online portal.
Yet they have called ex wife this week to see if he has made payment! Hes unsure what to do, who to pay and sleepless nights over the 1000's if arrears 🙁
Any advice how to deal with these nightmare people would be great. Thanks.
I think first to understand why the arrears are showing, and then you can work out if you think it is correct and be able to argue for why it is wrong and needs addressing.
Unfortunately you can just fall foul of their inflexible rules, which looks at things retrospectively and often does not make sense.
My example was to be assessed based on projected earnings, pay this for 2 years, then ex complains. They look back and even though my actual earnings were the same as the projected I gave them, I was told the assessor did not follow correct rules at the time and should have used the P60 on file at the time, which was 15K more than what I earned in the previous 2 years. Result was not only did they assess me based on a P60 4 years old, they back dated the underpayments for the previous 2 years and lead to a £1000+ assessment for a year.
None of it made sense, did not follow anything at all logical, but I had to swallow it up. I give the story only to show you how they think and perhaps related to your case......the rules may be absolutely non sensical, but if you are stuck in something where these rules apply, it is difficult to get out of.
wow i never knew they also assess on projected earnings. i got a bit of a breather. lost 2 jobs in lockdown, so CMS saying i am to pay NIL.
hi mum of boys,
that is very typical of cms to send out 2 letters with conflicting information. i think those are auto-generated by their system. when i first sent in a court order to them about shared care/overnights, they sent me 2 letters with different amounts lol. phoned them and asked which one is correct.
your partner should still send them messages and documents through the portal. although it mentions a 12 week response time, I have been getting responses within a few days. other than that, can wait until they accept usual phone calls.
I guess that why they overturned it later, as the guy that did it clearly got it wrong!
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