[Solved] Unable to Pay IN accordance with Court Order

Hi and welcome - I'm going to run through a quick list, and I'm sure others will add to it.

1 - you need to contact the CMS and open a case with them - this will override the court order, and realistically, with your income and circumstances, I would be surprised if you will paying any more than the basic £7 per week.

2 - get any benefits you can - you've paid enough tax when you were doing well, so you should certainly be drawing on the welfare state when you aren't able to earn.

3 - look after yourself (and resolving the 2 above will help to some extent) - if you are fighting leukaemia, you need to be concentrating on that and not worrying about the stress of what your ex is threatening.

4 - look at mediation with your ex to sort out contact - there is legal aid available for this, and I would think you would be eligible for this - the link is www.nfm.org.uk

5 - take a look at the sticky topics at the top of the legal eagle section on representing yourself in court - if mediation doesn't work, then this would be your next step, and you'll find plenty of support and advice on here.

6 - Once you are paying £7 (or whatever the figure turns out to be), anything more you want to pay is entirely up to you, so there's nothing to stop you from opening a savings account (that your ex doesn't have access to) and putting money into that

7 - Look after yourself - I know that was point 3, but it's that important that it's worth repeating.

Hi,

I am in a similar position but earlier in the situation. I went through a final hearing with the outcome to pay my ex-wife (what was in her statement of issues) a combined spousal and child maintenance level of £1000 per month. At no point during the hearing was it made clear that it was her plan then to claim via the CMS for yet more money. The order was made on all the surplus cash I had left each month. I am in small start up business as an employee and unfortunately as the order is due I haven't received my wages and therefore unable to honour the order. I have no received another order to attend court for being in contempt being told by her barrister that I needed to borrow the money. I am unable to do so due to my credit history. I also informed my ex prior the due date that I was in financial difficulty to meet the date the monthly amount should be paid.

Feel like I am stuck between a rock and hard place as I have no where to go to find the funds until I am paid. The new summons to court is threatening with me imprisonment!!!

Would be worth speaking to the CAB. Imprisonment is generally used, as far as I know, when someone is deliberately refusing to pay or diverting the money elsewhere, I would hope it wouldn't be used in a case where you genuinely can't pay.

Hi Wychwood1

Thank you for your post. I am William, the Child Maintenance Options consultant. I will provide some information that may help answer your query during this difficult time.

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.

For advice on changing a Consent Order you can contact Civil Legal Advice ( https://www.gov.uk/civil-legal-advice), the Government funded confidential legal service.

If you decide to make an application to the Child Maintenance Service, child maintenance is paid to the parent that is in receipt of the Child Benefit payments.

The Child Maintenance Service use two schemes: Direct Pay and Collect and Pay. Both schemes are legally-binding and enforceable.

Direct Pay is where the Child Maintenance Service will provide both you and your ex-wife with a child maintenance calculation and then allow both of you to decide the payment method. After this, the Child Maintenance Service will make no further contact unless they are informed that payments have stopped or if there is a change in either of your circumstances.

Alternatively, under the Collect and Pay scheme, the Child Maintenance Service will calculate and collect payments from you and then forward them on to your ex-wife. If you decide to use the Child Maintenance Service, your responsibility to pay will be around the point when you are contacted by the Child Maintenance Service.

To give you an indication of how much child maintenance that may be calculated if you were to use the Child Maintenance Service, we have an online calculator on our website at http://www.cmoptions.org/en/calculator/. You can also find more information on how the Child Maintenance Service works out 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.

You may also be interested to know that the Government plans to introduce charges for using the Child Maintenance Service at some point in 2014. There will be three types of charges:

• Application fees
• Fees for collecting and paying out child maintenance
• Enforcement charges for paying parents who do not pay

The best way to avoid charges is to set up a family-based arrangement and not use the Child Maintenance Service at all. However, if you and the other parent cannot agree an arrangement between yourselves, there will be no collection fees for parents who pay and receive child maintenance using Direct Pay, only application fees.

For parents using the Collect and Pay scheme, the Government plans to charge collection fees to both the paying and receiving parent, this is for collecting and passing on child maintenance payments.

Under the Government’s plans, the paying parent would have to pay 20% in addition to the weekly maintenance payment and the receiving parent would have 4% taken away from the weekly maintenance payment.

If you decide to make an application to the Child Maintenance Service, you will need to contact us first either by telephone or email, for your unique reference number. This number is personal to you. It is unique and shows that you have spoken to Child Maintenance Options before applying for a statutory child maintenance arrangement. You can find more information about using the Child Maintenance Service by visiting the Government website Gov.uk at http://www.gov.uk/child-maintenance.

Another option that you may wish to consider is for you to try and negotiate a family-based arrangement with your ex-wife. Many parents find that this is the most flexible and amicable way of agreeing and maintaining an arrangement. There are also no strict rules to stick to.

A family-based arrangement does not need to be all about money, although many parents include regular financial contributions. Your arrangement can include other kinds of support, such as you directly paying for things that your daughter may need. Family-based arrangements are not legally-binding, however, many parents prefer them because of easy they can be reviewed, such as if you or your ex-wife’s circumstances change. They are also free to set up and maintain. You can find more information about family-based arrangements on our website at http://www.cmoptions.org/en/family/index.asp.

For more information on the ways to set up child maintenance, please visit our website at http://www.cmoptions.org. Alternatively, you can call us free on 0800 988 0988 between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday or 9am and 4pm on a Saturday. We 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

Hi William

thank you very much for this, it is greatly appreciated - I will digest and follow up ASAP.
As well as the financial side the key element for me is ensuring that I keep access to my daughter which has not been a problem in any way up until Christmas 2013 but since then my ex has made it extremely difficult for me to see my daughter.
Just this week she was supposed to be coming to see me as I am in a good period between chemo and she is on Easter break but this morning I discover that the ex is taking her away for 2 days - she had her recently for 2 weeks at mid-term partially because I could not see her due to infections etc.
Is this something that the CMS also gets involved in or is there an alternative route for that?

Hi ACTD
thanks for this and your kind thoughts. I am actioning along with guidance from William below.
I like point 7 a lot but making sure I have access to my daughter is also very important to me. I will get to nfm.org.uk pronto.

Again your input and time is greatly appreciated.

No problem. With regards to your previous question, the CMS/CSA do not involve themselves at all with contact, that's something you need to sort out by mediation (legal aid is still available for this) which you know about, or by a contact order in the last resort.

Thanks everyone - I followed the advice eventually and my payments were reduced by almost £700/month. A life saver literally. Downside is that my ex-wife has done exactly as I feared and stopped me seeing my daughter - have not seen her in 6 week. I will see her for 2 days this weekend as it is my birthday but then unlikely to see her anymore over the summer. So now that my treatment is coming to an end and the prognosis is good I will be getting ready to sort that mess out. Any help on that one also appreciated.

Again thanks to everyone.

Glad to know the prognosis is good - even more important about point 7 😀

It looks as though mediation is definitely the way forward - if she is allowing some contact, then it's a starting point.

ACTD - again thanks.

She is allowing only because oldest daughters (30&28) applied pressure.
Unfortunately there will only be one route that will work and that is the legal one.
But renewed strength I have developed during recent months, the confidence that the system is not always against Dads and the support from this forum has equipped me to face that challenge.