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Hi guys,
I split from my ex over two years ago, finally managed to divorce last year. I gave her everything, the house, a car and agreed to pay £400pm for my now 5 year old son on the basis that I maintained the access we agreed which I know is more than usual.
I have my son overnight on Tuesday and Wednesday one week, then the following week Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
I changed my job so I can work from home to accommodate the school runs and just be the best Dad I can. I'm never late and my son is always happy (apart from the occasional telling off lol) when he is with me.
My ex (who remarried two months after our divorce came through - he's welcome to her!) is now saying I'm not having him Tuesday's anymore, even though we have been doing this over 2 years. I've basically replied that I am going to appeal the court order we agreed then as she's going back on what she agreed with me.
My question is this a) can I do that? The CSA calculator says I should be paying no more than £260pm - I'm going self employed soon so that figure could drop dramatically depending on what I pay myself and b) has a precedent been set in the time we have separated with regards to the access I have?
Any advice here would be appreciated.
Paul.
Hi there
As I understand it, if child maintenance payments are agreed as part of divorce proceedings and an order made, this can't be overruled for 12 months. After that time either parent can open a case with the CMS which will override the existing order.
As far as contact, if this had been agreed in court with a Statement of Arrangements for Children this isn't legally binding and can therefore be altered afterwards.
Hi Paul,
Thank you for your post. I can certainly provide relevant information that may help to answer your query.
Your post suggests that you may have a Consent Order in place for child maintenance. If this is correct, it is possible to change the terms of your Consent Order but to do this you will need to get legal advice. This usually results in going back to court to set out the application on a standard form. The court will then consider any changes.
Any Consent Orders that were endorsed after March 2003 are not legally subject to change unless they have been in place for at least 12 months. After 12 months, either parent can apply to the Child Maintenance Service and the Consent Order will no longer be valid.
With regards to the latter point that you raised, child maintenance and contact are not linked. Therefore, any issues around contact will need to be resolved separately, either privately or via a legal route. With this in mind, you may wish to seek legal advice to discuss your contact rights.
If you wish to discuss child maintenance in further detail, you can get in touch with Child Maintenance Options. Their contact details can be found on their website at http://www.cmoptions.org.
The DWP have a sorting out separation web-app that you may find useful. It offers help and support to separating and separated families. The link is: www.dad.info/divorce-and-separation/sorting-out-separation.
Kind regards
William
Hi Paul,
Thank you for your post. I can certainly provide relevant information that may help to answer your query.
Your post suggests that you may have a Consent Order in place for child maintenance. If this is correct, it is possible to change the terms of your Consent Order but to do this you will need to get legal advice. This usually results in going back to court to set out the application on a standard form. The court will then consider any changes.
Any Consent Orders that were endorsed after March 2003 are not legally subject to change unless they have been in place for at least 12 months. After 12 months, either parent can apply to the Child Maintenance Service and the Consent Order will no longer be valid.
With regards to the latter point that you raised, child maintenance and contact are not linked. Therefore, any issues around contact will need to be resolved separately, either privately or via a legal route. With this in mind, you may wish to seek legal advice to discuss your contact rights.
If you wish to discuss child maintenance in further detail, you can get in touch with Child Maintenance Options. Their contact details can be found on their website at http://www.cmoptions.org.
The DWP have a sorting out separation web-app that you may find useful. It offers help and support to separating and separated families. The link is: www.dad.info/divorce-and-separation/sorting-out-separation.
Kind regards
William
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