Hi,
I have a question. I hope you can give me an advice.
I broke up with my wife. She did apply to CMS and they told me to pay child maintenance.
6 months later we were again in a relationship. I told my wife to report the change to CMS. She said OK but never did it.
Because CMS told me to pay (I have a letter from them) I was paying for 18 months. But in this time I was in a relationship with my wife (I can prove that). I think I shouldn't pay any child maintenance for that period (but I paid).
After 18 months I said I will not pay any more child maintenance because we are in a relationship. She said OK. I stopped paying child maintenance for 5 months.
Now we broke up for good.
My wife reported to CMS that I didn't pay any child maintenance for last 5 months and she wants me to pay her that money.
In this situation I decided that I want her to pay me back all the child maintenance I paid her when we were in a relationship (18 months).
My wife in the same time was:
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taking money from me (because we were together),
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taking child maintenance from me,
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taking benefits as a single mum but she wasn't a single mum (she didn't share the benefits with me),
Do I have any legal chances to ask my wife to pay me back all the child maintenance I paid her when we were in a relationship (18 months period)? I was paying every month by bank transfer, exactly the amount stated by the letter from CMS.
She is not allowing me to see my children but she wants me to pay. Unbelievable
I'm not an expert on child maintenance but I think you should explain this to the CMS. They might say that your contribution was voluntary and could be deemed as housekeeping. Seeing the children and paying maintenance are two separate issues so you'll need to make a C100 application to the court if she won't let you see the children. You need to try formal mediation before making the application. Is it worth discussing contact arrangements with her again?
I don't think CMS will make changes, as originally your ex did not tell them that your together and maintenance not required. So they would require you to carrying paying every month as usual.