REMO-Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Order

PlayingHardball

REMO.........I wish I knew 3 years ago what I know now! I should have applied for a court order via the UK courts so that when the REMO was sent to the reciprocating country the country had something to go on. At the time, I didn't think this was always necessary as I believed what it said on the REMO website ('where there is no UK order the reciprocal country can issue one', blah blah blah, not so, in my case! Especially when it is not an English speaking country)

There really is very little, and almost no information, from the Magistrates Courts in the UK if you need them for advice. If you called and asked about REMO, you don't get information - its like calling the CSA 'nobody seems at all knowledgeable'. I actually called the courts in bury st-edmunds this week (The tribunals service has joined up with Magistrates courts and it is all based there for REMO applications, I'm told) I wanted to know what form to use to apply for a court order to help my REMO appliccation. I was told they couldn't tell me as that was seen as giving legal advice, they just 'process the forms' once received! She wasn't friendly. I was then directed to some legal advice number, which then wanted to put me through the paces to apply for legal aid! I just wanted the number of a form!! lol .....totally useless. I'v got an appointment with CAB this week, hopefully they can tell me what form to use, although I'm thinking it is C1. I was passed from one place to another, eventually gave up on that route.

So, have yet to get anywhere but I won't give up. I still treat this as an interesting, if not unusual hobby!

snowman123

Hi All,

I have just found this thread regarding REMO and has found it very helpful. However, my situation is different from most of you here, I am the NRP myself, and I have a 5 year old son who i absolutely love. His mum and I have never been married and never been through CSA, so there is no maintenance order or anything like that. We have had no problems regarding money issues until July 2010.
I have been paying on time every week since my child was born until the recession in 2010 hit me. I lost my job in July 2010, couldn't find a job anywhere and finally got offered a job in Asia in August 2010. So I had no choice but to leave the UK for the job. The job didnt turn out well as I thought it would, to cut the long story short, i didn't get paid until May 2011 when I moved to Hong Kong. So from August 2010-May 2011, I did not have any income, I borrowed money from whoever I can just to survive on a daily basis, let alone pay for child maintenance
Once I got my first paycheck in May 2011, I wired 300 pounds instantly to my boy's mum. (We have always agreed on 60 pounds a week). In June 2011, another 240 pounds. In July was my boy's 5th birthday, so I went back to the UK and paid her 700 pounds in cash (for July & August & extra money for my son's birthday).
Now she had threatened me to discontinue any access to see my son and go to REMO today if i do not pay her the backdated amount from August 2010-May 2011. I usually speak to my son through skype or phone at least once a week but she has disallowed all communications between me and my son.
I have a couple of questions, and I hope some of you who has experience with REMO can help me:

1. I know she will be going through the Magistrates Courts. If i can prove i have been paying her since May 2011, will the Magistrates Courts officer look at my side of the story and then decide if this case can proceed? Or will the officer proceed with the case regardless?

2. From reading this thread, I know that if she can obtain a court order, the REMO process will be much faster. Question is, how can she obtain a court order against me when I am in Hong Kong at the moment?

3. How long does this REMO process take generally? and what are the general procedures?

Thank you all in advance, I appreciate any help in this!!

AnxiousMum

It's very easy to obtain a court order through REMO. however, it does take time. As you are obviously overseas, then she would have to get a provisional order through the Magistrates Court here in the UK. They will request documentation from you as to financial situation etc. which you will need to provide your ex and the court with so that they can make a 'fair' provisional order. This provisional order is then sent to a court local to you where you get to attend. They will either enforce the order - making it enforceable in the country you reside, or they may come back with a variance to the provisional order.
Once the court where you reside makes an order, it is enforceable against you.
However, as there is no order in place at the moment, then you are under no 'legal' obligation to pay any arrears - the only obligation is moral - and to be honest, it sounds like you have been doing what you can.
The other route that you might wish to take is getting a contact order via the courts - though, unsure how likely that is or how enforceable they actually are - UK seems to treat the dad's access as unimportant unfortunately - something which drastically needs addressing.

AnxiousMum

PHB - it's unbelievable that you are STILL fighting this battle! Yes, I think it was the C1 form that I completed. Did you ever phone my local Magistrates Court (Maidstone - Family Division deals with REMO - I used them and they were fantastic) - at least they would be able to give you correct information?
I filed the C1 for a variation and enforcement purposes - however, if you are looking for an initial order, that is also the form that needs to be completed. You should have a court date here within about 3 months - prior to that, the ex will need to provide all his financial details to you and the court, so that they have something to base a provisional order on.

4m1n4

Contact and money are two very separate things and the courts do not look kindly on parents who try and connect the two.

I would suggest that you get consent orders to stop any confusion in the future. One for contact specifying exactly when you speak and when you see your child. Another consent order which deals with money.

REMO can and does work but it takes a long time and I wouldn't worry about it as it sounds like you want to play ball and do want to contribute to the upkeep of your child. Whilst you do not "owe" arrears as there was no order in place she could ask for a lump sum to take into consideration the time you did not contribute to the costs of the upkeep of your child. I suggest you make a proposal to her that sets out clearly what you can afford to pay going forward and perhaps try and make up for the time you did not pay (someone still had to pay for the child, no?)

You can then have both consent orders drafted and put them before a judge who can approve them. If you fail to pay going forward she can use it for the REMO process and you have a formal court approved agreement with respect to contact with your child that hopefully she will abide by too.

The UK courts are pushing for people to mediate to try and reduce court time and so if you put forward a proposal , she would need a good reason not to accept it. You can dial into any hearing in the UK and so if she has already started the process you can still do it remotely from Hong Kong. If you can show what you have paid previously and your income throughout the period I don't think you will have any major issues. However the whole thing can be resolved quickly and easily if you just come to agreement instead and abide by it.

knithappens

arghhh pooo they lost my paperwork> i think I am just goign to call it a day, as i dont think i have the strength to do it all over again

mico62

Don't give up, I had to reapply as my consent order was made in the county court and not magistrates and a different procedure applies but I'm now receiving weekly cheques with a small amount of arrears.

If Mississippi's anything like Texas once he's in the system they're very efficient. any queries I had once they contacted me were answered within 48 hours

knithappens

Thanks Mico62

they have pulled there finger out and are expediating my application which is good,not so gooda s i have to do everythign again, but hey ho, not much i can do about that now. I am just worreid now as when we were divorced no order was made about support, just that the kids would reside with me, ( mine and our daughter together) thats it. So worried that it is goign to be very long winded, in that i will have to get an order for financial support here, as some people have had to and others not.

I wish he was still in texas, as I have heard they are very good, hopefully mississippi will be the same, If i wobble again please gve me a kick up the backside

mico62

Buttkicking foot ready whenever you need it!

When my claim stalled I emailed the AG in Texas and his PA assured me as soon as they received the paperwork they would expedite my claim.

Just had a look on the Mississippi site and they seem to be hard on deadbeat dads too, might be worth emailing this officer - Special Assistant Attorney General Deshun T. Martin of the Attorney General’s Child Desertion Unit - as he's named in all the press releases. They're tough on their own citizens but even tougher on foreigners and may revoke green cards.

insurgente

Hi all,

Don't mean to intrude on this thread, but I thought my query was better placed being asked here, rather than starting a new thread.

Reading through some of the stories on this thread, I am honestly shocked at some of the lows that some people seem to want to stoop. I have a lot of respect for the members on here who have battled through all this, and I admire your strength.



Has anyone here been on the receiving end of a REMO?

To cut a long story short, I live in the UK and my child was born and continues to live abroad; not a Ryanair flight away. Unfortunately when my child was born, I had nowhere near the money to get there. Apparently, in the country where she was born, a child has to be registered with the names of both parents. As I was not there to get my name on the birth certificate, a ''paternity investigation'' was opened against me.

For months I tried discussing with the country's embassy here, and various departments and lawyers in the country itself, to try and find out how I could go about getting my name on the birth certificate. After getting several different and not particular clear answers (how an embassy doesn't know its own country's laws, I don't know) I decided it would be easier to do it all in person in the country concerned, which I could do whilst seeing my child.

Fast forward.... I knew that this ''investigation'' would be opened against me and that it would take a long time, being international. I had hoped I'd managed to resolve it all whilst I was there.

But recently, some documents arrived at a house I used to live at: court documents. They were dated as the process initially starting April 2010; before I'd managed to go there and ''resolve" everything (or so I'd thought). But they just arrived now, when I thought they would have been called off.

However, the strange thing was, they arrived with no stamp and had "hand delivered" written on the envelope. They were not given to anyone and noone signed to prove they'd been received. With such important documents, I'd assume they'd need proof they'd been received (if not by me, then atleast someone?) In the US, isn't it a police officer who serves such documents?

I've recently called up REMO to enquire about my case, as I had initially asked them about this 18 months ago and heard nothing else. They looked up my name on their system and saw no case for me .... They also told me, that if documents were received and passed on to me, they'd come with a letter from my local magistrates court. However, this envelope came with nothing; just the original documents and a translation in to English. The envelope had no stamp on it and my name and address were hand written.

Mystery...who could've delivered them and just left them without bothering to make sure they were received? If nothing was received from my local magistrates court, can I assume I don't have a case to answer (as of yet)?

Any help would be greatly appreciated