[Solved] First payment under the new CMS, have I done wrong

Hi there

I would call them, don't leave it to your ex to do it. I'm sure if you explain your reasoning they won't proceed to take from your wages directly. If you should have paid the full amount as indicated on the plan they may consider putting you onto collect and pay service though, which would increase your payment by 20% unfortunately.

If you should have paid the full amount (which I think is probably likely) offer to get the shortfall into her account and give them assurances that it won't happen again.

All the best

A couple of questions
1. When did you become aware of the CMS case (what date)
2. What is the "effective" or "calculation" date stated on your paperwork.

Under Direct-Pay, the CMS actually play no role other than to set the amount of CM payable, and the declare the date(s) by which it is payable.

CMS scheme have no interest (or power) to enforce or "judge" any payments before the calculation date. It is for this reason that non resident parents are advised to stop whatever informal arrangements are in place as soon as they know about a pending CMS case (where it is safe to do so for the welfare of the child) to make sure they can meet the CMS liability when it becomes due.

As Mojo said, you could call CMS are simply tell them you paid in two installments so that the full amount was transferred by the due date.
You *may* get push-back from the CMS call handler "siding" with your ex, But if you stick to your guns and keep calm and simply state that you made two payments in order to meets the CM amount by the due date, I doubt they will pursue it.

Equally, the CMS are likely to give your ex very short-shrift if she phones to say that you have not paid "properly" especially when she has indeed received a fully payment (there are enough parents who do not receive any payments). They will tell her they (the CMS) have no power to enforce a family based agreement (which is what this situation boils down to from the CMS point of view).

Hope helps

Thanks for the replies. I answer to the questions, not sure on the exact date but I was warned by letter at the start of November stating that the CMS was taking on the case and that I will shortly receive notification on my payment scheme. On the 2nd December I received the payment order/plan/schedule. The dates within the plan where date assessed 29th November, payment period 1st Dec 16 - 1st Nov 2017.
So by time I received their letter our original agreed payment (voluntary) had been paid to her.

I'll contact CMS today, and let you know the outcome.

Did it say in the letter at the start of November that you should stop any informal arrangements you had?

Thanks for the replies. I answer to the questions, not sure on the exact date but I was warned by letter at the start of November stating that the CMS was taking on the case and that I will shortly receive notification on my payment scheme. On the 2nd December I received the payment order/plan/schedule. The dates within the plan where date assessed 29th November, payment period 1st Dec 16 - 1st Nov 2017.
So by time I received their letter our original agreed payment (voluntary) had been paid to her.

I'll contact CMS today, and let you know the outcome.

OK, so as the CMS payments are "in arrears" meaning you pay by 1st Jan for the period (month) just gone: 1st Dec - 1st Jan, and so on.
You paid half on 1st Dec and half on 1st Jan - and both these payments amount to the Dec period/month.

Your ex will claim that the 1st Dec payment relates to a prior agreement. But a) the CMS will not want to know about this and b) it is arguable whether any such agreement can be said to exist once a CMS case is opened. c) your ex cannot have it both ways: the CMS payment made by Jan 1st is for the December period, so she cannot expect to receive an amount for December via the family based agreement (made void in November, arguably) and receive the CMS amount for December also.

In any case, the CMOptions website itself clarifies the issue:

http://www.cmoptions.org/en/maintenance/manageable.asp

"
If you have a statutory child maintenance arrangement, it may help to ask the statutory child maintenance service if you can change how often you make your payments. Regular child maintenance can be paid:

every week
every fortnight
every four weeks
every month
"
I agree with Mojo that if/when you call CMS, you can simply say that in future, the payment for the month will be made in one amount (or whatever frequency that suits).

It is important to convey you had/have no intention of missing or delaying CM payments, and this was simply a "set-up" issue.

Hope helps

You need to ring CMS and tell them you made a voluntary payment to the RP after your case opened with CMS and before the first payment was actually due. They would normally adjust this payment off the system then send out new payment plans but as you made up the difference then CMS should contact the RP and confirm that you are up to date with your payments.

Hi There,
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I think as said you should call CMS and assk them directly, I have been in contact with them myself recently and have found them to be quite helpful.
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I do have a feeling though that the full amount set in teh schedule would still be due as the CMS wouldn't take into account anything you had paid to your ex outside of the set plan. I know that this is unfair, but generally as soon as a case is opened you should stop paying anything to your ex directly until you are asked to pay through CMS. I would call them and explain the issue and talk through your options. I would think if I am right then they should allow you to top up the money to the amount they set for you and allow you to remain of the direct pay. You would need to speak to them though.
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GTTS