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Hi
I agreed maintenance for kids within a consent order. However, one of the kids now lives full time with me. Seems crazy to keep paying maintenance for that child but ex won't agree to a change.
I don't want to go to csa for variety of reasons, I have the Child Benefit now for the child. Can I just stop paying maintenance for that child? The consent order is for a certain amount per child.
If I did just stop paying then I imagine ex might go to court to seek payment of arrears. But would she succeed? And how could I document that I have stopped paying only for the child that lives with me, and from a certain date?
Thanks
Hi there,
I would have thought that if you stopped it might spur your ex to go to CSA, you actually probably wouldn't have to pay any money though if you went through CSA as you could claim from her for the child living with you so one claim would cancel the other out.
It might be worth mentioning this to your ex and maybe offer for her to claim the child support and you don't give anything.
Would have though you would be better off in the long run.
This is all assuming that your ex works and earns a wage?
You should both be able to claim child benefit as you both have a child living with you.
As Darren says, you actually have a legitimate claim for maintenance against your ex, so I'd look at the maintenance calculator and work out how much each would owe the other.
I would also say that going to court wouldn't be a bad thing - the advantage of court is that they can operate within the spirit of the law whereas the CSA follow the rules to the letter - I can't see that a court would award arrears as the whole basis of the order was on the fact that your ex had custody and that is no longer true.
I had a similar issue in relation to spousal maintenance in a consent order. This was due to finish when my ex wife remarried (which she now has).
However, when the man to whom she is now married moved in I ceased paying the spousal maintenace (I obviously continued to pay the child maintenance part of the order), because I felt that was in the spirit of the order. I assumed, wrongly as it turned out, that she would have to apply back to the County Court that originally made the order to get it enforced, they would look at the changed circumstances & agree with me!
It turns out that all she had to do (which she did) was register the order in the Magistrates' Court, for collection. They of course don't look at the circumstances at all, and simply carry on collecting the money.
Also, because, in my experience, the magistrates' Court officials are completely incompetent, this has then caused me several further problems that I won't bore you with.
My advice would be go back to the court that originally made you order, and get it varied. that will also protect you against the CSA for a further 12 months!
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