REMO-Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Order

GoPras

bettyblueeyes wrote: »

I agree. REMO does know me already, I have been calling and researching..... no information really. Maybe I have another go at it , I am worn out and the kids are almost 18 soon..... But thanks again.

Hi Bettyblueeyes
I read your posts on this topic and can empathise but wonder if you need to get new orders made at all.

I receive maintenance from Switzerland using REMO and have had a fairly straight forward experience. I got my court orders made in this jurisdiction then brought the orders to the REMO to enforce them. After a bit of forward and back to make sure the Swiss canton had the papers they needed I started getting regular payments, within 3 months. They were sticklers for the docs they needed but I didn't have to go back to court to change orders just because he changed the jurisdiction - REMO's business is just to enforce the orders that are already made.

Article 17 of the The Hague convention states:

The party seeking recognition or applying for enforcement of a decision shall furnish -

(1) a complete and true copy of the decision; (aka, the court order)
(2) any document necessary to prove that the decision is no longer subject to the ordinary forms of review in the State of origin and, where necessary, that it is enforceable; (aka a simple letter from the court to say it is enforceable - the REMO people should be able to do this for you / help you with this)
(3) if the decision was rendered by default, the original or a certified true copy of any document required to prove that the notice of the institution of proceedings, including notice of the substance of claim, has been properly served on the defaulting party according to the law of the State of origin; (aka, if the opposition wasn't in court when the order was made, provide whatever document was used as the proof of service of those proceedings. This will be either postage record or summons server record, whatever it was. If you don't have it, the solicitor who helped get the order will have it, or failing that the people in the REMO unit may be able to help).
(4) where appropriate, any document necessary to prove that he obtained legal aid or exemption from costs or expenses in the State of origin; (if you have this you will get exemptions from on-going costs)
(5) a translation, certified as true, of the above-mentioned documents unless the authority of the State addressed dispenses with such translation (in my case the REMO did this for me but if you translate it yourself, ask REMO if they can help you get it certified as true).

Article 17 continues: "If there is a failure to produce the documents mentioned above or if the contents of the decision do not permit the authority of the State addressed to verify whether the conditions of this Convention have been fulfilled, the authority shall allow a specified period of time for the production of the necessary documents. No legalisation or other like formality may be required."
In other words, the Swiss authorities won't start work on collecting until these docs are in place, but you don;t need further legal work.

Once the REMO unit here transferred my docs to the Swiss authority, the Swiss sent back a form to be completed where you list by month the amount ordered, the amount received, and the accumulated amount owing. I started receiving payments within a month of them having this doc. Of course the x is objecting to the full arrears, but whilst this is being dealt with I am still receiving monthly payments. He cannot change the orders though.

The only problems I had were in relation to the exchange rate and the arrears have still not been collected, but that will come.

Basically, try to get a contact person in the Remo office to help you through the process and keep everything tight and clean. The orders are already made, this is just about enforcing them.

One more thing you might want to think about, as the children reach 18 they could apply direct for their own maintenance orders, and may be legal aided to do so.

All the best xo

freefrom:0)

Upto page 9 of the thread so far. Just a quick one about my situation... My ex lives in the uk, house is uk mortgage, banks with uk bank but works abroad and has accountant who brings him in under the tax bracket. Cmoptions have done a rough calculation of monthly payment guessing his income (min£40k) he's offered me £35p/w for 2kids but suggest family based agreement is way to go. I left over a year ago and he's not paid a penny. He now wants to take kids on holiday to play top dad in front of his new girlfriend and needs passports from me. Lo, a cheque for £900 has appeared. £35 p/w for every week that I have had them.... (Son stays with him every other week when he's home, daughter won't go). I don't think he realises that I don't have a leg to stand on legally but he needs to look good in front of his kids. As far as they are concerned he's given me money so all good. Is anyone in my situation? He moves all over so wrote remo off. Don't have consent/court order. Need to pull my finger out. Advice gratefully received.

Amystan

knightley wrote: »

Hi. I'm about to embark on the REMO process as well. The father of my child has moved to Canada several months ago and is threatening not to pay child support. He has not stopped paying yet but he is paying a lower amount than he should pay (according to both UK and Canadian guidelines).

I have contacted my local magistrates court by email and was redirected to the London REMO team - also via email. They have now sent me all the forms to fill out - to apply for a provisional court order here, which will be then sent to Canada. I'm planning to send the forms over the next couple of weeks, it takes a while to compile all information that they want (full financial disclosure for myself - income and expenses, etc).

I will be posting updates here. This thread deserves to be updated, it has so much information and I'm hoping some old users are still active in case I have questions!

Good luck to everyone who is still going through the process.

Hi Knightley, just wondering how your application went?
I have recieved today an application from the courts to start proceedings to apply for a REMO. My ex husband is living in Canada too and I've not had anything from him since September '14.
I'm a little confused as I have been sent a financial statement to complete, is the amount of maintenance my daughter receives from my ex husband determined by my financial status?
Any help would be much appreciated

fraido

Hi there,

The Child Maintenance Service (and Northern Ireland equivalent) are slow to tell their customers about reciprocal arrangements between the UK and the rest of the world (REMO). That's if they even mention it at all!

I've put everything I can find on REMO on one website to try and spread the word. You can find it on weebly and it's called NIREMO. I'm prevented from linking to it here.The information and site is all free and if you have any specific questions I'd be only too happy to answer them (there's a contact page to email me). If anyone has suggestions on what more needs to be included I'd love to hear them.

Time to get this information out there. Ultimately the children suffer through lack of proper financial support from the non-resident parent.

I hope this helps!

CakeCrusader

I posted on here a few years ago, and I'm still waiting for the arrears. Everything was transferred over to Bury St Edmunds last year, and everything came to a complete standstill. The NRP is still paying (at the moment) but he still owes the arrears and the order expires on Saturday. I've been in touch with Bury St Edmunds and they have said they will send the NRP a letter to tell him to pay the arrears and they will extend the order for another 18 months (until our son leaves school), but seriously!! Is there anything else I can do as they seem useless

Sarah2904

Can you share your experience with me please. I would like to start the process and has just only found the site today.

Sarah2904

Share your experience and steps please.

CakeCrusader

Hi, Sarah. The way in which you go to court for a REMO has changed since last year, everything in the UK (apart from London) was transferred to Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk (and it's a nightmare to get through on the phone). Do you have the forms already, as this will help. If you don't have them, you're best off calling them for advice and they will send you the right forms. Their number is 0344 892 4000 and they are open Mon to Fri, 10am - 4pm. It took me 4 days (calling every hour) to get through to them on the phone, so you'll need the patients of a saint. You can also email them (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to put the email address on here, so you can google it). They are slow to reply to emails though, just to warn you.

I shouldn't say too much as family courts are held in private and there's restrictions as to what people can say on the internet etc. It was pretty straight forward though as I'd told them where he worked and lived. It took 3 months from filling the papers to the court hearing though so it was pretty quick. I have to take him back to court though through Bury St Edmunds and I've no idea how long that will take.

I hope this helps.

Standingontwofeet

kittiecat wrote: »

Hi, I'm trying for child support from Australia, I have just been granted my court order stating my ex must pay me, the monthly amount he is due & the back payments he has missed. The court here is now meant to be sending it onto Australia for the court to enforce over there.
It has been a LONG battle to get to this point with him trying to hide so I could not get the Writ served on him. The court officers over there were great we found him ;-) even if I had to become detective to track him down!!
This has been a very lonely experience, there is so little on the internet about uk parents seeking support from Oz. I read on a forum to treat this as a hobby so it does not consume your life, that is good advice, its also been my therapy for years of abuse by him :-)

Hi great to see you are having some success, I've just started the Remo process. You say you have gone to court and they have ordered him to pay maintenance. Did Remo sort all that out for you? Or what do I need to do to intially get the UK courts to order that?

Many thanks

scared1969

my ex paid for a year. child support and maintance, then about a year ago announced he was made redundant and could no longer afford to pay. He was a very well paid exec, remarried and has a green card and bought a huge house in the USA. He is now saying he cannot afford to pay for flights for the kids ?? Ive started the remo process as, if he has lost his job (the company did pull out of the USA i know that is true) and he really is not working, how would that work with the remo. I told him to apply though the uk courts for variation as then it is all legal and above board and he won't do it, which makes mw think he must be working or self employed or something. Will he still be made to pay the arrears????