Maintainance Help Please

beegood

My partner got divorced in december and the house him and his wife owned has not been sold as yet although its been on the market a few months. The agreement was that my partner would continue to pay all the bills and pay maintainance to his ex (no children involved) until the property is sold. The problem is that he is self employed and although he has kept up the payments he is now in the position where he has no work. The agreement was made with his solicitor and sent to the court. What will happen if he carries on paying the bills but drops the maintainance for his ex. I would be grateful for some advice please.

chugalug

He needs specialist advice on this, probably from a family law solicitor. If he cannot keep to the agreement (court order??) then he will have to apply to the court for a variation. There could be severe consequences if he just stops paying - the court wont look favourably on this.

Regarding maintenance - if he stopped paying there would be nothing stopping his ex going to the CSA for payment. This will take months to sort out though especially as he's self employed. Depends really on how amiable the ex is. Also, if he's done without the CSA so far might be a good idea to avoid getting them involved if at all possible, they can make the situation worse.

Has he spoken to his ex about his financial situation? What does she say?

£Ronnie

Why is he paying maintainence to his ex if there are no children involved?

beegood

Because she doesn't work.

chugalug

Ooops, just read your post again - the no children bit!! Forget the CSA but he still needs to vary the court order.

beegood

Thanks again but if he's still going to carry on paying the bills what would be the worst that would happen if it was just the maintainance he didn't pay. It's only untill the sale of the house he needs to pay both. When it is eventually sold then he has no more maintainance to pay thats in the agreement.

£Ronnie

I dont mean this in a snotty way at all, I genuinely dont understand....

Why is she entitled to maintainence if there are no children??
Cant she get a job and support herself?
What has she been doing while they were together, working at all or a stay a home housewife without children?

hjb123

I dont see why she should get maintenance if there are no children involved either! I can understand the bit whereby he pays all the bills etc until the house is sold and then proceeds split or something similar but I dont see why she gets maintenance!

chugalug

Everyone's making a judgement about the situation - you have to remember this appears to be a court order - whatever anyone thinks about the ex receiving maintenance with no children. If the OP's partner applies to court to vary the order citing his current circumstances there shouldnt be a problem. There might be a problem though if he stops paying in defiance of a court order and his ex gets huffy. It could get nasty.

MrsB_2

My first question would be why hasnt the house sold yet? Is the ex playing games and stopping would be viewers coming round (for example)??

Seems to me like she's on a cushy number and that she's probably got no desire at all to see the house sold. Can you make sure that it's your OH the estate agents deal with??

busby1_2

I would give the solicitor the money to hold for her until the house was sold, i think that might stop those games