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Guys,
Some advice would be appreciated. I'm the father of 2 teenage children (14yo son / 18yo daughter) who have lived with me since 2005. Their mother began making mutually agreed payments of £260 per month in 2007. She is now remarried and is planning to go on a world cruise in a yacht she has bought with her new husband. She has told me today that she is giving up work in order to prepare the yacht and intends to stop making support payments because they want to work faster on the yacht so that they can get on with their world tour.
I'm aghast at her selfish irresponsibility and can't believe that she feels it is morally acceptable to put a long holiday ahead of her children, but, my moral outrage aside, is there anything I can do about this from a legal perspective?
Thanks,
Andy J
The CSA payments are based on her wage, so I would imagine that as she isn't working she won't be liable for any payments.
I agree that this is incredibly selfish, and she clearly doesn't think about the children if she is happy to go off around the world for 12 months
Darren
Darren is correct, if she gives up work, then there is no assessment of maintenance based on income. There is the possibility to get maintenance if she has assets - I think they have to be more than £60,000 and that doesn't include the main house, so if they have more than, presumably, £120k between them in the yacht after any mortgage, you may have a shot on this basis. I'd have a word with the CSA to see if they have any suggestions.
Hi I'm Sarah, a consultant for Child Maintenance Options.
The assets variation can apply in cases where the assets are in valued at £65,000 or more. You would need to contact the CSA and discuss the case specifics with them.
I hope this helps,
Sarah
Guys (and that's a genderless term in this context),
Thanks for the feedback. I suspect they'll be away for significantly longer than 12 months, Darren.
I'm intrigued to hear about the assets variation - I haven't heard of it before. However, would this become inapplicable if they leave the UK (on said asset)? Having done a bit of light reading, I'm under the impression that maintenance payments are unenforceable for people who live overseas (apart from certain groups, like the military, etc).
Andy J
Hi There,
I used 12 months as a general term 😉
I'm not well versed on CSA, but I was under the impression that you were able to claim overseas, I would call CSA and inform them of the changes and ask what you should do, they will be able to cover all bases with you.
Darren
I agree that your best bet is to contact CSA - I think (but I'm not sure) that it's not so much a matter of whether the maintenance is due, but more of whether it is enforceable if the non resident parent is elsewhere in the world. The asset variation would, I would think, be based on the valuation (and that's not what they paid - they are presumably adding value by working on the boat) while it is in this country, and at some point presumably they are going to return here - it's worth contacting the CSA to see how they could go about enforcing this, and mke sure they realise the obvious that at some point, your ex is intending to leave the country taking the asset with her, so the CSA need to act quickly to either enforce any maintenance or to prevent the asset from being removed, assuming they have the power to be able to do this.
One other thought - if they have given up work, presumably they have cash reserves to allow this - that would be part of the assets.
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