REMO-Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Order

Ali781

Just called my contact at the court and she said that as there is no maintenance order and it's arrears only the australian csa will be instructed to take on my case. She sent off the paperwork to remo yesterday after my hearing. Very efficient this end so far........

zoemads

WHAT INFORMATION I CAN TELL YOU:

I started the REMO process in 2011 when I found out the CSA has no jurisdiction in Europe.

I phoned REMO and I was told to go to my local court and!ask for!a Maintenance Order to obtain payment from him. I was also informed by the team that by doing this quickly I would receive arrears of maintenance payments from the date of the Court Order. I had no previous court order in place from my divorce only what the CSA had arranged.

I would advice anyone in my situation is going through a divorce to obtain a residency order and a maintenance order as part of your divorce.....!

The REMO department sent me more paperwork for me to complete so that I could obtain maintenance through the Hungarian courts and then two years later more paper for the German Courts. They are not easy to complete!!!!

I completed this on the same day and then I sent everything back to REMO.

REMO informed me that they were unable to find the location of where my ex-husband was living and without!my knowledge the case was closed!in December 2013.

I did receive a letter stating that they are unable to find him but no mention in the letter that the case was closed.

Since then my ex has started working in Germany in 2014 and is currently living in a hotel until he can find a suitable place to stay or because he doesn't want to be found.!

I did all the running around, ringing Germany at my cost and finding out his work address, phone number and email address. This was past onto REMO. He then found out that they were on his case and has now informed them he is moving to Spain.!

This means starting the process all over again....


Throughout this process/years I am been given conflicting information and I have never been given accurate information.

I have!been recently informed by the!courts/SERREU that I am not able to obtain any arrears for the 3 years that I have been chasing maintenance because there was only a private agreement set up. The arrears only start when they can confirm an address and they issue him with the court order!!!!

When I originally went to court I was informed by REMO that this was a 'court order' to obtain maintenance from my ex and I would get arrears. THIS IS NOT THE CASE!!!

Over the years they have also told me the following:-

• That I would receive arrears from the date of the Court Order.!

• Even though my ex was out of work, it was his choice that he went back-packing and not looking for another job, so this would be taken into consideration when working out the arrears.

• Any payments that he made from the Court Order date!would not!be taken into consideration when working out arrears.

Now this has made me totally confused because I have been told one thing and then I receive!information which is !the opposite.

IF I KNEW THAT MY COURT APPEARANCE WAS NOT AN ACTUAL MAINTENANCE ORDER I WOULD HAVE OBTAINED A SOLICITOR THREE YEARS AGO.

!I feel that due to the inadequacy of!REMO my daughter has now missed out!on 3 years of child maintenance.

SERREU has also told me the following:-

To send a letter from Bury courts to REMO to be translated into German, then sent to Germany and for a response to be received takes up to 3 months. Even longer if it is another country.

Currently REMO is over loaded with cases and not enough staff with the knowledge and expertise to deal with the claims coming in.

Now that my ex is moving to Spain this could take another year to two years to obtain payments because technically the process has to start again.

So my questions I asked REMO are as follows:-
I know there are benefits in place to help single mums on low income, but why should tax payers money be used when there is enough money being earned by the NRP to adequately support their child? My understanding that my ex's salary is currently between £50,000 to £65,000 per annum.

Why is there no law in place so that if a British Citizen moves abroad why can't something be done to obtain payments. I.e. Taken from his pension that he has paid into for many years in UK.

Balliff's are used when a person defaults on payments. Why can't this be the case to seize the NRP's assets when they clearly have them?

Why does the endless red tape and form filling stop a person from gaining any maintenance?

If a person is of no fixed abode why can't REMO go directly to their employer (irrespective of where they live in a different country) to obtain maintenance?

In this day and age why can't REMO send emails to an English speaking representative in Germany? In my experience of ringing Germany every person I spoke to was able to communicate to me in English.

Why can't REMO have access to DLA and the Pension system? This would make it easier and quicker for the NRP to be found and then this knowledge could be used to find and seize any assets

HOPE THIS HELPS PEOPLE THAT FACE MY SITUATION IN THE FUTURE!!!

Mum2One_2

Hi everyone,

I am trying to go down the REMO route to obtain any help at all from my ex who now lives in Canada but I don't know where to start! I have spent about 4 hours today calling local magistrates, this department, that department and every time I get through to someone I get told its not the right department and they give me another number. I have gone round the houses today more than once and am losing the will to live! I literally cannot find anyone that can help me or give me the forms. I have called and called the REMO helpline number but its either engaged or just cuts off as if someone is sat just cancellinig the calls as they come in!!

My ex left after an affair when our daughter was a baby. He moved to canada and stopped paying immediately and then I found out he'd left me with a few thousand pounds of debt which he also wouldn't help to pay off. Over the last few years has sporadically sent £100 here or there. I have struggled and worked full time, had to move house and various other things but have accepted that he doesn't pay as I thought I would rather have him out of our lives completely than have any money, it just wasn't worth it.

I try not to be bitter about having to pay for everything, particularly when he has no interest in coming back to see her, and the last time he did arrange to I then received an email to say he wasn't coming as he'd decided to go on holiday to Vegas and Mexico for 3 weeks instead!!

I am now really struggling as my daughter is due to start school in september so I have uniform etc to buy and 6 weeks holiday of childcare to cover so I can work now she is breaking up from preschool this week. I had to move house in January as I could no longer afford to live alone and we are currently staying with my parents for a while. I have just found out the the deposit from the house when I moved has been sent to his bank account instead of mine and he has pocketed every single penny! This news has come at the wrong time what with being strapped for cash at the moment, I am so furious that this is the last straw and I want to try and get a maintenance order.

He lives in Canada. Can anyone help? I feel at a loss and close to tears because I can't seem to get any help from anyone official! I can't even get my hands on the forms!!

Thanks in advance

Stressed mum!

Mum2One_2

AnxiousMum wrote: »

PHB - there's a big difference between being 'bitter' and not being a 'sucker' :)I was a 'sucker' for a year whilst ex didn't pay his child support - has now taken six months to register with Family Maintenance Enforcement in Canada over his non payment, and once they got it all filed though - took a month to get first payment, and now after 3 months, he has apparently made an arrangement to pay the arrears. Had I started the enforcement process earlier, I wouldn't be scraping the pennies to help son go to uni in October - hoping his arrears will start coming in prior to that so that we can pay his first terms accommodation leaving him some of his student loan for him. He's been working so has money saved, but also faces four further years which will not be funded by loans - so we need to think further ahead than just the three years! The money he has earned, he has put aside for those years, and we'd like to know he doesn't have to dip into it as he has a longer term plan than just the coming three.
However, unlike his dad - who wouldn't go without running costs of his boat, hot tub or sauna....and won't give up his family vacations to his partner's homeland of Phillipines, who won't give up buying all the latest and the best for his 14 yr old step son to try and forge a frienship with him (he should see what the step son says about him on facebook! - makes my kids blood boil) - I will, and have in the past, go without things in order that my children receive what they need. I know not all NRP's are like that........but ours definitely is.

AnxiousMum I notice you mentioned your ex was in Canada - can you help me at all with any advice?

chrissygib

Hi just read through all these posts. My story is my ex is in Australia we are divorced in Australia but the ancillary relief is still ongoing here in UK [Northern Ireland], each time it comes close to being heard in court he has had it adjourned. He has excellent job with multinational IT company but is now apparently resigning due to ill health - we are all convinced this is just a ploy so he doesn't have to pay me spousal maintenance. Should I now try the REMO route and has anyone had any success with Australian REMO? and how long did it take? what will happen if he does resign? will REMO refuse to chase it then?


Can I start process with REMO if ancillary relief is still ongoing although my solicitor doesn't hold out much hope for getting court ordered with him if he has resigned.


At a loss where to start and what to do. I will really struggle if he stops paying child maintenance as I haven't been able to get a job yet as I was stay at home Mum before separating - he earned over $180,000 in Oz so I was lucky to be able to stay at home with kids.

Ali781

hi,
just thought I would update on my case.
Remo accepted my application and the Australian CSA have taken on the case for my arrears. They have written to mt ex and asked for him to start paying it off.
keep at it everyone as it does work in the end but you need patients, I first went to court in April.
good luck everyone.

oldbill40

i know its an old post but here goes.
I need advise please...im on the other side of the fence so to speak.
First of all im in the UK

Heres the sad story. Got married 94 we had son here in uk 95, 6 mths later ex went back to REP OF IRE as i was away on 6mth tour with army.
I began paying regular maintenance. She then took me to mags crt in ROI and they demanded £240 pm, on a squaddies wage.my SOL didnt appeal this as i could not be present in court due to being overseas. It has never had a reassesment.( she wanted no personnal contact with me, she got legal aid, i had to pay for SOLS). Our sols had two years of nasty wrangling denying me any visitation etc. She kept moving sols.( ive got all the letters). I never saw my son. I then stopped paying in 97 as my time was up in the army, took a few months to get new work.
So i gave up all the pain and heartache then as i wasnt going to go through all that again. Anyways i had no court orders sent through,,, nothing at all. In 2002 i contacted her SOLS as i was remarring and needed a divorce. All she agreed and LONDON COURTS signed the decree as well as the final paperwork regarding children.(sec 41 matromonial act 1971).
I still hear'd nothing, no summonses etc. ive all ways worked and been fully traceable if realy needed. Not moving address/ names nothing. She even knows my mothers address in ROI. I now have 2 children in this marraige 10 and 2.
My son is now 19 and turns 20 in mar. I have just received a REMO from ROI ( still havent received court papers).

1. Am i liable for back payments
2. I stopped paying in 97 via court judgement not csa
3.there is a csa record but it is closed down in 2001 and shown as closed and no arrears.
4. The county court here in the UK allowed the divorce and signed the sec 41 of the matromonial causes act
5. Am i time barred????

Any advise would be greatly appreaciated .....DOM

NYM

2. I stopped paying in 97 via court judgement not csa

I'm confused, Did the Court order you not to pay ?

oldbill40

The county court in ROI in 95 said £240 pm.
The divorce procedure in 2002 here in uk was done after 5 yrs separation.
And only contact between SOLS in uk and ROI. The court never asked about children etc . But included in the decri nisi was a stamped form about sec 41 matromonial act etc.....

rach28

After some advice please.

I am actually living in Australia and trying to get child support from ex in UK. I will give you the background. So to start I am a British citizen and so is my daughter. Emigrated to Australia in 2009. So me and ex where never married had my daughter in 2001 in the UK. Me and ex had split during pregnancy. It took CSA in the UK over a year to get hold of ex (who then denied she was his) had to have DNA test and he was made to pay the min just over £5 per week. At this point he decided he wanted to have relationship with daughter. He was then added to birth certificate and had her surname changes to his. He then started his games of not wanting to see her then wanting too. When she was 3 I went back to work full time and he agreed to give me £10 a week if I stopped the CSA. I agreed bad mistake on my behalf as this was the last time I got child support. We where in and out of court over visitation etc for the next two years but they wouldn't deal with child support. I did how ever start a new claim with CSA when she was about 4/5. He was granted PR in court. And decided 24 hours after getting PR and visitation every other weekend that he no longer wanted to see her. I met my husband in 2004 when daughter was 4. We got marries in 2007 when she was 6. In around 2008 the CSA finally made a deductions of earnings and ex had to pay arrears plus ongoing child support. Me and my husband had decided at this point to emigrate to Australia, so after about 6 months of getting child support again, I agreed to stop if he gave consent to take daughter out of UK to live. He agreed on the condition of stopping child support. So in 2009 I emigrated to Australia. Since 2009 the Australian CSA has trying to get child support but he won't pay. At the end of last year i has to fill out loads of paperwork as he was an international case and non compliant and I was advised that the Australian CSA where going to send my case to demo for enforcement but they didn't hold out much hope. I have just rang aus CSA for update and all they can tell me is that demo has excepted the case and its been forwarded to the courts at the beginning of December. After reading posts I noticed that others where phoning courts and demo in the us and Canada. Can I ring the local courts in the UK and get and update? The CSA have advised me to work on the fact that I will never get child support and if I ever do it will be a bonus.

Thanks in advance for any help