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Hello all,
I will try and keep this short and as precise as possible giving you enough information that may warrant a good understanding and chance of understanding my current issue.
5 years ago after an incident with his step father my son made the decision to move away from his mother and live with me full time. Since that day I have been using the CMS service to calculate and take full control over payments from his mother due to knowing we would not be successful in amicably making the decision between ourselves. At the time she was working full time and the CMS calculated a weekly payment plan of around £28. Within a week I received a letter from the CMS informing me that the payment was not received from them but they would do everything they could to chase up the reason why. After 5 weeks of still no payments I contacted them and they informed me that she was now not working and claiming benefits, this resulted in a reduction of child support of around £6 a week and I would be receiving the first payment within up to 6 weeks. Again this payment was not made and after further phone calls to the CMS they informed me that it wasn't paid due to her working again and not claiming benefits. After the call and about a week later I received another letter confirming that as before I will be receiving £28 a week which will start within 5-6 weeks.
I am not going to bore you with repetitive situations but the above has continued now for the past 5 years and I am yet to receive a single penny towards the upbringing of our son and the CMS don't seem to see the game she is playing to dodge making payments. Flitting between benefits and employment seem to hold off on anything going through successfully and the CMS inform me that all they can do is keep trying to contact her and sending her letters. The CMS have informed me that the amount she owes is just over £2500 and they will start issuing force of payment (bailiffs, etc) but I have heard this from them before and nothing ever seems to get done.
I was under the impression that the CMS would have more motivation than they are showing, I understand that they will be working with thousands of cases but I feel as though I have to constantly contact them for information and proceedings to move forward, surely this should be part of their service regardless.
My question is basically this..... Does this situation sound familiar to anyone? and what else can I do "legally" to get the support money she should rightfully be paying?
Any help would be much appreciated.
DB
I don't think there is much more than you are already doing, but that debt doesn't go away, even when when your children are no longer eligible for child benefit. I would keep on at CMS on a regular basis, it is in their interest that they close this case by getting the arrears paid. I do wonder if you could raise a complaint that they aren't sufficiently chasing the arrears - I'm not sure whether that would yield any results, but I would certainly consider escalating it higher up the chain with CMS to see if you can get anywhere.
Also, while it is only a phone call for you to chase this, it is probably a far greater inconvenience to your ex, especially if she is repeatedly changing jobs to try to avoid paying.
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