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Ok so my daughter turns 19 soon I last saw her when she was about 3 or 4 thanks to an evil ex. I have been paying Child support (child maintenance now) for years.
Last year I wanted the child maintence service to check my daughter was still in education, I was told they could not and it was my responsibility to prove if she wasnt...how do you do that if you have no details other than a bank account number and sort code????
This year I mentioned it to them and they said the CMS and Child benefit systems are linked, so they could check for me ! Yay. The next day I get a phone call that there is an issue on the account relating to this. They could not give me any further details but told me they have written to my ex and have to give her 14 days to respond.
Today I phoned them to get an update (we have passed the 14 days) It transpires that my ex stopped getting child support/benefit last year! The CMS people cant get hold of her. So they said the case is to be closed and I can stop my payments....first up YAY I can afford to have two meals a day again!
So here comes the issue, I asked the adviser how do they go about reclaiming the amount my ex has fraudulently claimed via them?
Since I have been a good boy and never missed a payment, done it via direct bank payments .....they dont... no help what so ever! Told to go via the small claims court.
They told me how much I have to pay or face dire consequences every year, if I had not payed I am sure they would of come down on me with the full weight of the law....but in this case since its the receiving parent and done the recommended way (direct pay) they cant help me at all?!
How do you go via the small claims court when you only have a bank account and sort code?
They are sending out a letter to advise me the case is closed (may frame it) Hopefully that will state on there the reasons why but I really have no idea where to go from here.
Part of me is just inclined to not kick the hornets nest and forget about the large sum of money she has extorted fraudulently last year.... her family can be nasty and it may have repercussions effecting work and home life.
Another part of me, and my mum (I may be an old guy but you still have to listen to your mum on some things lol) wants me to go for recovering the money.
Anyone been in the same situation? What happened?
Ok so my daughter turns 19 soon I last saw her when she was about 3 or 4 thanks to an evil ex. I have been paying Child support (child maintenance now) for years.
Last year I wanted the child maintence service to check my daughter was still in education, I was told they could not and it was my responsibility to prove if she wasnt...how do you do that if you have no details other than a bank account number and sort code????
This year I mentioned it to them and they said the CMS and Child benefit systems are linked, so they could check for me ! Yay. The next day I get a phone call that there is an issue on the account relating to this. They could not give me any further details but told me they have written to my ex and have to give her 14 days to respond.
Today I phoned them to get an update (we have passed the 14 days) It transpires that my ex stopped getting child support/benefit last year! The CMS people cant get hold of her. So they said the case is to be closed and I can stop my payments....first up YAY I can afford to have two meals a day again!
So here comes the issue, I asked the adviser how do they go about reclaiming the amount my ex has fraudulently claimed via them?
Since I have been a good boy and never missed a payment, done it via direct bank payments .....they dont... no help what so ever! Told to go via the small claims court.They told me how much I have to pay or face dire consequences every year, if I had not payed I am sure they would of come down on me with the full weight of the law....but in this case since its the receiving parent and done the recommended way (direct pay) they cant help me at all?!
How do you go via the small claims court when you only have a bank account and sort code?
They are sending out a letter to advise me the case is closed (may frame it) Hopefully that will state on there the reasons why but I really have no idea where to go from here.
Part of me is just inclined to not kick the hornets nest and forget about the large sum of money she has extorted fraudulently last year.... her family can be nasty and it may have repercussions effecting work and home life.
Another part of me, and my mum (I may be an old guy but you still have to listen to your mum on some things lol) wants me to go for recovering the money.Anyone been in the same situation? What happened?
I have no experience of this, but couldn't not reply and say that I now how you feel. Its so unfair isn't it. My child is only 7, and already I am thinking about what to do when they get to 18 as I will not know what they ar doing education wise. I am thinking that when they get to 18 I am just going to stop paying.
Let us know how you get on, but I feel that small claims court is the only way forward.
hi,
small claims info: https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money
do you know your ex's address?
other issue is, what if she doesnt pay? she could tell court shes not working, on benefits, then you dont get any thing back. some people just disappear and case gets closed.
I've got a similar issue mate. Unfortunately, I need to wait on my case going to a tribunal to (hopefully) get a decision that my adult child is no longer in education. He hasn't attended at all during 2018/2019 school year but my ex apparently just has to say he is and that was case closed as far as the CMS were concerned.
Whilst I'm awaiting the tribunal decision I need to keep paying (under threat of sanction same as you) and as such I have already started researching on how I'm going to get my money back. There is an official procedure that the CMS are supposed to follow for overpayments. FYI - all of the CMS internal procedures are available as pdf's on the 'Voice of The Child' website.
The report you are after is on the following link: https://voiceofthechild.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Overpayments.pdf. You will note that the CMS are able to refund payments in certain circumstances. It's worth checking this to see if your situation would qualify.
I would appeal if I was you. I genuinely don't know how successful you will be but you have nothing to lose. In my opinion (and experience unfortunately) the CMS call handlers always give you "advice" that they think will just get you to go away quickly. If you go and deal with this yourself via the small claims court, the CMS don't have to do any work which is exactly what they want.
If your ex is the same as mine you will be lucky to get the money from them. Mine is a career benefits claimant so it's unlikely I would be able to realistically recover the money from her even if won a small claim court case. However, if you think you can recover the money that way then perhaps that is a better route for you even if it does let the CMS off lightly.
The injustice of my situation has really affected me this last year so I know how you feel. Every single month I need to pay over £650 that I can't afford and I know she isn't entitled to whilst struggling with other bills.
I wish you well and hope this helps.
@Jellybean hi my daughter left collage in 2021 June but my ex lied and still claimed child benefit after she left which I still had to continue to pay until Sep 2022 I told CMS she had left the year before but CMS said I had to get the proof which with a lot of running around going to the collage to get letters off them stating she left the year before but because my ex was conning the system claiming child benefit and all the other benefits related to that ie tax credit. Single parent ex. after sending in letters and text off my daughter they still wasn't happy and refused it went to 2 tribunals CMS said they got other information stating different dates but the didn't have it in black and which I did I reported my ex for fraud within 2 weeks I had a letter of CMS saying that the case Is now closed but I still had to pay the back payment coz I stop paying when I found out my daughter had finished college July 2021 or they would send the balifs into my house .. so I had to go the the obinsman to appeal it took 2 years for the hearing for the court case to ho through I turned up with letters off the collage and text off my daughter and finally the courts ruled in my favor 😀 so now I'm going after the CMS for my money .... I spoke the the CMS they said they go to wait for the letter off the courts.. I did mention about interest on my money .days off work to go to the courts..running around ie to the college getting the proof but they said that would be a separate case hope this helps anyone don't give up hope the CMS just puts obstacles in your way and u got to prove everything .. its a private company all they care about is getting money and not the fair justice that should be given first
do you know your ex's address?
Nope, a point I made to the service rep in the phone.
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