What can he do??

Rocket99

Hi everyone

I'm an AE, my ex husband has been known to search on my normal user name .....

However, the brief circs are this ..

We divorced 18 months ago and have 2 children now aged 10 and 7. They live with me but see their dad regularly. Originally he had them to stay over 6 nights out of 14 but this quickly went down to 2 (every other w/e) although he came to my house 2 nights a week to see them. I have never stopped him access and in fact have been the one who has instigated him having them stop over. He agreed to pay me a reasonable amount per month, which I believe is less than CSA would award, but I was happy with.

He remarried but she is now leaving him. They have no children from this marriage and the house is his. He informed me today that he can no longer afford to pay me maintenance and as such will be applying for residency of 1 of the children, has already applied for child benefit for the eldest. Although he won't be splitting the kids up, he will have them both 1/2 the time and therefore will not have to pay me anything. He is in debt due to the wife!!

He earns approx £44,600 pa. I am self employed and due to repaying business loans etc I pay myself £50 per week. I also get WTC and CTC plus his money. If he gets residency then this will also affect my tax credits. I will be taking legal advice tomorrow, but am wondering what the outcome (financial mainly) will be. If he does get residency of 1, surely he will still have to pay me something due to our wages disparity?

Oh and apparently if I try to stop it, I will only be doing it for the money, which won't look good!! !!!!!!?? It's his only reason for doing it!

kelloggs36

Good that you are seeking legal advice - I can't see him being granted residency of one of the children as he hasn't had continuous contact. I would contest any claim for child benefit that he has (possibly) made - when they contact you you tell them that he has not had any child move in with him! I would also put in a claim to the CSA and he will have to pay 20% of his net income in maintenance. it sounds like HIS only motive is money - not yours. Fight him all the way.

Rocket99

I know they won't take the kids away from me, the residency of 1 will only be technical in that he will have them both at once, but just 1/2 the time. What I was thinking was that even if he did get 1, I would still have claim on 50% of 15% of his salary for the eldest, and likewise him for me for the youngest .... which means he'll still have to pay. Off to get calculator ..

It never ends, even after you've divorced the b*****d, does it

speedster

take no notice.

he's spouting a lot of hot air and if he wants to waste time, effort and money on a no-win court case, then let him.

is he seeks legal advice, they'll laugh him out of the office and you wont hear anymore on the matter.

personally, i would get him a list of local solicitors from the CAB who offer either a free or fixed fee initial interview and tell him to go see one of them.

Rocket99

the daft thing is, he tells me his solicitor is the one who gave him this information!!

kelloggs36

Even if he has shared care, only one of you can claim child benefit - make sure it is you. Then he will have to pay a reduced amount but he will still be liable. Be strong and don't give in to his demands.

speedster

Rocket99 wrote: »

the daft thing is, he tells me his solicitor is the one who gave him this information!!

rubbish.

not even the lowest of dumbazz solicitors would advise this course of action. they'd be a laughing stock if it got out that they were offering this kind of advice.

NO solicitor will take on a case like this. not if they value thier court record.

kelloggs36

but some people are stupid enough to make up stories like that to try and convince their ex's.

kingfisherblue

My ex tried this in the early days after our break up (he left me for somebody else), but he said he wanted all three children to live with him. It was partly money, but mostly to upset me. My solicitor advertised as specialising in family law (and as things became very complicated due to our son's disabilities, I needed somebody who knew what they were talking about). When I told my solicitor what he was threatening, she told me not to worry - he had limited contact at the time (about six hours once a week - his choice, I offered him as much access as he wanted). I, on the other hand, was there all the time. I attended all doctor and hospital appointments, school parent evenings, took the boys to Beavers and Cubs, etc. My ex couldn't even remember the name of the teachers and didn't know what day they went to Cubs and Beavers.

When my solicitor wrote to his solicitor to say that I would contest any application for residency, it was never mentioned again. That was almost five years ago. And he's had them overnight for less than a fortnight in total in that time.

Good luck x

missmontana

He can't apply for CB as the child/children don't live with him yet.

More importantly, how do the children feel about this? do they want to live with him half the time?

I'd worry more about that than any financial reasons first.

Hope it works out for you all, not sure he's doing it for the right reasons! Maybe he should consider selling the house and renting.

alwayspuzzled

speedster wrote: »

rubbish.

not even the lowest of dumbazz solicitors would advise this course of action. they'd be a laughing stock if it got out that they were offering this kind of advice.

NO solicitor will take on a case like this. not if they value thier court record.

I dunno my OH originally had a letter from a solicitor demanding a cs payment of £300 a week stating the CSA would ask for £500 a week. It now turns out they had been presented info showing our partnership had a turnover of 140K but even if this turnover had been 100% profit in his name the highest the csa calculator comes up with is 400/week and surely anyone with a brain would know 1/ a partnership doesn't consist of 1 person (clues in the name) 2/ theres a diff between turnover and profit 3/ cs is calculated after tax etc.

This doesn't exactly inspire me with confidence re solicitors, however they never followed it up so I suspect they were maybe operating on the principle that if someone recieves a letter from a solicitor more often than not they'll comply no matter how rediculus the demand (like asking for 120% of someones wages!).