Welcome to the DAD.Info forum: Important Information – open to read:
Our forum aims to provide support and guidance where it can, however we may not always have the answer. The forum is not moderated 24 hours a day, so If you – or someone you know – are being harmed or in immediate danger of being harmed, call the police on 999.
Alternatively, if you are in crisis, please call Samaritans on 116 123.
If you are worried about you or someone you know is at risk of harm, please click here: How we can help
Hi,
I have recently taken voluntary redundancy and received a reasonably generous redundancy payment that I am using to support myself while I establish my own business. While I was employed, I paid my ex wife maintenance for my daughter under a Minute of Agreement (we're in Scotland). Once I knew I was taking redundancy, I wrote and informed my ex that a 'Material Change in Circumstances' had occurred, as provided for in the agreement, and I would be ceasing payments to her under the agreement. I received the redundancy payment after the required 30 days notice had taken place under the MoA. She has now, some months later, gone to the CMS to get a ruling on future maintenance payments. A couple of questions -
1. Can she, or the CMS, backdate maintenance and try and get a share of the redundancy payment?
2. She claims that she can apply to the Sheriff Court for a variation to the MoA to cover back payments and take account of the redundancy payments. Is this correct?
Any help gratefully appreciated, my solicitor can be slow to respond to queries and does not always take time to fully explain all the subtleties of wht can or might happen.
Thanks,
S.
As per my other response, the CMS can only come after assets (excluding your house) if they are in excess of £65k, and they can't backdate to before the case was opened. I'm not sure the position regarding the Sheriff, but I can't imagine they would be able to overrule the CMS.
Hello Stonefish
When an application is made to the Child Maintenance Service the paying parents responsibility to pay would start from around the point they are contacted by the Child Maintenance Service, not from the point the receiving parent first makes contact with them. Backdated payments may be payable if an application had previously been put in place with the Child Maintenance Service.
The Child Maintenance Service works out child maintenance using the paying parent's gross income, which is income before Income Tax and National Insurance are taken off, but after occupational or personal pension scheme contributions are taken away. In most cases this gross income figure comes from information given to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) by the paying parent, their employer or a third-party such as an accountant.
You can find information about how the Child Maintenance Service calculate child maintenance on Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/how-child-maintenance-is-worked-out/how-the-child-maintenance-service-works-out-child-maintenance.
In regards to backdated payments via your Minute of Agreement, you would need to seek legal advice regarding this to see where you stand. You may wish to visit http://www.scotland.gov.uk for further information, alternatively, you may wish to speak to your solicitor.
For more information on the different ways to set up child maintenance, you can visit the Child Maintenance Options 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.
Regards
William
Welcome to the DAD.info forum.
We don’t like to set ‘rules’, but to make sure that you and the other dads are kept safe, we have some requests. When engaging with the forum, please be aware of the following:
- The forum is not moderated 24 hours per day.
- Many of the moderators do so on a voluntary basis. Whilst they may be able to provide some guidance, advice or support, they may not be able to deal with specifics.
- We are not an emergency crisis service so if you or someone else is in immediate danger, please call emergency services.
- If you are concerned about the safety of a child, please click here to find the support you can get for them (link to new page)
- If you are in crisis, please call Samaritans on 116 123. They are open 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.
We hope you find this forum a supportive environment and thank you for joining us.