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Hi,
I have now been divorced for 3 years. I was at the time ordered to pay child and spousal periodical payments of £800 per month. And to transfer the marital home to my ex wife with best endeavours in place.
At the time I was a company director earning enough to pay the spousal periodical payments.... Since then I have obtained a child arrangement order which meant that I am now seeing my children on a more regular basis and 2 nights more per week than before...
Regrettably over the last 12 months my financial situation has worsened which has meant that in those 12 months family members and my partner have been lending me money to pay the spousal maintenance ..
In November 2015 my Ltd company was put into liquidation. I am now employed and am earning just under £40,000 before tax as a result of my company going into liquidation I have creditors who are chasing me for payments in excess of £200,000 from directors guarantees. I also have personal debt in excess of £15,000 and have now extinguished all possible ways to pay the spousal maintenance.
In January I advised my ex wife that I was unable to pay the spousal maintenance and that I would be contacting the CSA to allow them to calculate how much I should be contributing towards the children. And that I had contacted the Court to Apply to vary the Order.The CSA contacted me the following day advising me that my ex wife refused to accept the payments and because of this they were unable to calculate the amount.
Since then I have made no payment as advised by a "Mckenzie friend"
My question and advice that I will require is what is the likely out come when my case is seen at first appointment which is in 9 weeks time. I am unable to afford a solicitor so will be doing this alone... Please find below some further information that might help
Ex wife worked full time through entire marriage and has recently changed to part time and had substantial redundancy pay out 6 months ago
We have 2 children First aged 8 second aged 6
Ex wife lives in 4/5 bedroom house with equity of aproximately £130,000
Drives a 2014 Nissan quashqi which she purchased 5 months ago
She has shares abroad in excess of £20,000
Has a pension
I have no assets at all or pension and am driving a 20 year old Vauxhall Astra , having sold everything through out the divorce and since trying to keep my company afloat, which sadly didn't work. I live in a rented house with my partner who has a son aged 7 and we split everything 50/50 but in reality she pays for a lot of the expenses due to the payments i am making to credit card companies and creditors
Now to make things clear my name still remains on the mortgage. She was meant to carry out best endeavour but has made no effort to release me from the mortgage
I am going to ask for a clean break as I am afraid that I will need to go bankrupt and that my children will loose there family home as it may be seen as a asset.
Any advice for the court date or help on what to expect would be greatly appreciated
Terry
Hi Terry and welcome
I'm afraid I'm going to have to suggest that you get professional advice - your situation is far too complex to be able to answer without this, and if you get the wrong advice, then it could cost you a massive amount. It might be worth going to see the Citizens Advice Bureau initially and see what they suggest. One thing I will advise, is that if you do go bankrupt, as far as I am aware, child maintenance payments are a priority one debt.
I agree with actd, you really do need to seek some professional advice. Some solicitors do offer a free initial consultation and this may be helpful for you to get some advice. There's also a good website called Wikivorce.com and you may find some helpful advice there and a forum where you could ask for assistance.
I'm surprised at the response from the CSA, now the CMS, as either parent can open a case with them and I didn't think either parent could refuse to comply once a case hase been opened. When maintenance has been decided by a court as part of a divorce settlement this can be overruled by a CMS claim once the court order is over 12 months old.
Best of luck
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