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Hi
Sorry if this question has been asked before.
I have a Consent Order which stipulates how much maintenance I should be paying. The Consent Order became a year old on May 9th 2018.
I am paying far too much maintenance, the original figure that is encapsulated in the Order was calculated as if I had my son less than 52 nights per year....I have him a [censored] of a lot more, which is great, but I now want the maintenance recalculated as I am being asked to fund lots of things for our children that the maintenance should be covering, school shoes, trainers for PE etc.
To get the maintenance recalculated do I just have to involve the CMS or do I also need to apply to court to have the maintenance figure adjusted (to the new figure that the CMS will calculate).
Any help advice would be greatly appreciated.
Hello Steve71
It is possible to change the terms of your Consent Order, but usually if you want to go ahead with this, you will need to get legal advice. This generally results in going back to court to set out the application on a standard form. The court will then consider any changes to the amount or any other terms you wish to alter.
Any Consent Orders endorsed after March 2003 are not legally subject to change unless they have been in place for at least 12 months. As you have mentioned that your Consent Order is now over 12 months old, either you or the other parent could consider applying to the Child Maintenance Service instead, and the Consent Order will no longer be valid.
The Child Maintenance Service are the Government's statutory maintenance service and can either calculate your child maintenance, then leave you to arrange payments between yourselves, or they can collect payments and pass them on for you.
If you do decide to ask the Child Maintenance Service to arrange your child maintenance for you in the future, your responsibility to pay will start from around the point that you contact them, or they contact you.
If, at any point in the future, you and the other parent feel as though you could potentially reach a family-based (mutual) arrangement, you can find various supporting tools and guides available to assist you on the Child Maintenance Options website www.cmoptions.org.
In addition to this, should require any further information about the Child Maintenance Service, the fees involved with making an application, and to receive a more personalised service, you can contact Child Maintenance Options directly.
Finally, you may also be interested to know that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have a website, Sorting out Separation. It aims to make it much easier when you are separated to find the support you need, when and where you need it on a range of concerns, including, money, housing, employment, legal and parenting apart. You can view the website at https://www.sortingoutseparation.org.uk/.
Regards
William
Hi There,
As said above, to enable to court order to be changed you would need to return to court, but as the order is over 12 months old, you could just contact CMS and ask them to take the case over, unless you and your ex could agree on an amount that you pay.
Just be mindful that this can often cause issues, you are having your child at the moment over 52 nights a year and the CMS will make a reduction based on this. your ex could dispute the number of nights or she could reduce them to enable a higher payment. Neither of these are unusual and we see them both a lot.
if she does dispute them, hopefully your court order states that you have over night stays totalling 52 nights or more and the CMS should accept this as proof, if she tries to reduce the number of nights then you would need to go back to court for an enforcement order.
good luck
GTTS
Hi There,
As said above, to enable to court order to be changed you would need to return to court, but as the order is over 12 months old, you could just contact CMS and ask them to take the case over, unless you and your ex could agree on an amount that you pay.
Just be mindful that this can often cause issues, you are having your child at the moment over 52 nights a year and the CMS will make a reduction based on this. your ex could dispute the number of nights or she could reduce them to enable a higher payment. Neither of these are unusual and we see them both a lot.
if she does dispute them, hopefully your court order states that you have over night stays totalling 52 nights or more and the CMS should accept this as proof, if she tries to reduce the number of nights then you would need to go back to court for an enforcement order.
good luck
GTTS
Hi There,
As said above, to enable to court order to be changed you would need to return to court, but as the order is over 12 months old, you could just contact CMS and ask them to take the case over, unless you and your ex could agree on an amount that you pay.
Just be mindful that this can often cause issues, you are having your child at the moment over 52 nights a year and the CMS will make a reduction based on this. your ex could dispute the number of nights or she could reduce them to enable a higher payment. Neither of these are unusual and we see them both a lot.
if she does dispute them, hopefully your court order states that you have over night stays totalling 52 nights or more and the CMS should accept this as proof, if she tries to reduce the number of nights then you would need to go back to court for an enforcement order.
good luck
GTTS
Thanks for the excellent advice. My access isn't court ordered but I have kept a very detailed diary of everything for 2 years now on my solicitors and Police advice so can document when I have had my son; just hope that will suffice should it be questioned. I also contacted the CMS yesterday and they are now reviewing the maintenance.
Thank you once again.
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