Good evening guys,
So after a stressful moment Saturday when I got a CMS letter for first time through my door and seeing words like your ex name....had chosen collect and pay and you've been named etc which gave me a heart attack nearly finally managed to get through to CMS admin on Tuesday which took 2 hours and its weird how quick and easy whole thing was he asked how often I have my kid(every other weekend not court order) and double checked p60 details/pension
For peace of mind I asked if I could do monthly payments 1st of every month and that was that and the very next day another calculation was in on portal and it turns out I was paying the right amount the whole time in my old private weekly arrangement (£60 per week) new CMS case=£59.14 per week or £259 per month .
My question is my first payment says 1st July 2021 via CMS text so do I keep paying my weekly old family based arrangement upto that date then switch to monthly as per scheduled?
Direct pay says parents can sort payment days themselves but I know she wants it weekly however I'm salaried and rather monthly and get it out the way In 1 hit every month,weekly leaves room for her to keep asking for it early all the time!
Hi
I was in a similar situation including the surprise letter.
Now that a CMS case is open, Until the 1st of July, any payments made are considered voluntary payments and an agreement between you an ex and so you can stop them if you wish or continue weekly. From 1st July you can pay it monthly for the monthly amount for the reasons you have given and there is little your ex can do other than contact CMS..
All the best.
Thanks mate its weird how I was really stressed and panicked when I got the letter but now I'm actually happy and prefer CMS because I'm very organised financially and its feels like I'm more incontrol too with clean monthly payments.
Weekly is a nightmare because we could agree maybe every Monday 9.00am pay day and time but then I could wake up on my weekend off and get a message on whats app saying "please put ....money in early please" instead of Monday morning and there is just no way she can ever last 9 days till the following Monday.
Hoping she won't challenge the 52 night (every other weekend) I have no court order for that
I know what you mean re being organised, whilst I hate the fact CMS are involved, this is due to the fact I believe they are an inept overly bureaucratic org where as soon as I progress to overnights and things get more complicated, I will need to deal with them, their red tape, their strange ways of doing things, more than I wish. It is what it is!
In relation to your ex challenging overnights, just remember, you insisting on keeping it monthly may lead to her challenging overnight and/or her asking for part payments in advance (weekly) or worse a top up as an additional payment. You just need to stand firm. If she cannot manage then redirect to CMS, job centre, CAB who can all help with money management and financial difficulties..
I'm just going to say on my CMS have said I must stick to the monthly schedule we both got in the post and that my hands are tied I even have text message saying first CMS payment 01/06/2021.
And that any extras like cloths or school trips I will take care of it im smooth with my words
That's fine, though extras are entirely at your discretion - the CMS figure is done to include everything, so there's no legal obligation to pay more.