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
Hello. ....I have sole residency for my 9 year old: his mother hasn't seen/contacted him since he was 1.
She is a serial company director of companies that are started then don't seem to trade or have any kind of web presence (unusual these days surely?) except for the many business listings that give little information that isn't already in the public domain, so no maintenance is paid. Given I pay maintenance for a son from a previous relationship, life is not easy.
The CMS say she claims her new husband (second one since we split!) 'keeps' her although this claim was made when she had her current directorship. My view is, kept or not, she has a duty to provide maintenance. Any opinion on this? And could anyone give an idea why anyone starts companies that don't appear to do anything?! It's got me puzzled.
Hi there and welcome
I have zero knowledge of directorships and the workings behind them.
If she has no income/doesn't pay tax/claim any benefits, then the CMS will consider her unable to pay. Did you just speak to them, or did you actually pay the fee and open a claim?
Unfortunately the CMS won't take her husbands income into account when making calculations.
All the best
You may be able to find out what the companies are formed for - I am the director of a company that does very little trading but exists solely as a management company to maintain the road etc for the road I live in, so it's a legitimate company that doesn't has very little turnover. There could be other reasons for the company formation. Unfortunately, if she has no income at all, then the CMS can't do much about getting maintenance. However, if she is working for a company that her husband operates and any income is going to him purely to avoid paying maintenance, then it would be worth asking CMS about whether you could appeal based on diversion of income (I'm not sure how this works with the CMS) .
That's very interesting thank you. I do doubt very much that any company she is involved in would have that kind of community motive however! I bet your company has existed for a while though...hers last a few years at most. There never seems to be detailed accounts at Companies House and no indication as to what they do. I'm guessing (by their names) lifestyle or communications which makes their lack of web presence even more unusual.
I do understand and accept that a nil income can't be used for maintenance. I do know by discussion on the web that there seem to be many many people who use self-employment to avoid maintenance entirely or pay a token amount. (My own opinion is that in the absence of anything else, a sum related to the Council Tax band of the NRP should be used...simplistic maybe but better than the complete and utter mess prevailing at the moment....£3.9bn of maintenance outstanding if I remember rightly)
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.