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Help legal advice on county court fees -maintenance
ahll
Posts: 1,508 Forumite
Hi all,
Can anyone give the legal viewpoint or the benefit of their experience when dealing with an attempt to change who the maintenance payment is made to in a county court ?
Overview
Married then divorced, years ago with a now 18 yr old resulting from the union. The child has always lived with and been looked after by the mother. Over the last two years (and previously) the father has not been paying his maintenance. Saying he doesnt want the money to go to the mother but to the child then they can use it to go out and have fun. He was recently re-called back to the Magistrates Court for not paying them the monies as per the judgement( he owes many hundreds of £ )
The child is going off to uni in September. The father is obliged to continue paying maintenance thought out uni. The father now wants to change who he pays the money to, wanting to pay it directly to the child. The Magistrates Court told him if he wanted to do that he had to go to County Court and would have to pay.
However the mother doesn't want this as she feels he will not pay (he has a history of this after all) and then this will mean the child would have to take him to court. The mother therefore believes it is in the child's interest to leave it in the mothers name and she will take him back to court if he doesn't pay. She does not believe the child would feel able to take father back to court as he has a big influence over the child. So the child would end up with very little money to survive on at uni (will now be living away from home).
Mothers plan is to receive maintenance and then give it all to child. She has just received a letter from his Solicitor basically telling her that he is taking her to County Court to get the name change but they will make sure she will have to pay all the costs because she is being unreasonable ! Can they do this ? Why is wanting to protect your child's interests unreasonable ?
She is in the final stages of pregnancies and really doesn't need this stress. Nor does she have the money to pay any such costs !
What can she do ?
Can anyone give the legal viewpoint or the benefit of their experience when dealing with an attempt to change who the maintenance payment is made to in a county court ?
Overview
Married then divorced, years ago with a now 18 yr old resulting from the union. The child has always lived with and been looked after by the mother. Over the last two years (and previously) the father has not been paying his maintenance. Saying he doesnt want the money to go to the mother but to the child then they can use it to go out and have fun. He was recently re-called back to the Magistrates Court for not paying them the monies as per the judgement( he owes many hundreds of £ )
The child is going off to uni in September. The father is obliged to continue paying maintenance thought out uni. The father now wants to change who he pays the money to, wanting to pay it directly to the child. The Magistrates Court told him if he wanted to do that he had to go to County Court and would have to pay.
However the mother doesn't want this as she feels he will not pay (he has a history of this after all) and then this will mean the child would have to take him to court. The mother therefore believes it is in the child's interest to leave it in the mothers name and she will take him back to court if he doesn't pay. She does not believe the child would feel able to take father back to court as he has a big influence over the child. So the child would end up with very little money to survive on at uni (will now be living away from home).
Mothers plan is to receive maintenance and then give it all to child. She has just received a letter from his Solicitor basically telling her that he is taking her to County Court to get the name change but they will make sure she will have to pay all the costs because she is being unreasonable ! Can they do this ? Why is wanting to protect your child's interests unreasonable ?
She is in the final stages of pregnancies and really doesn't need this stress. Nor does she have the money to pay any such costs !
What can she do ?
"The time is always right to do what is right"
0
Comments
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Well she can agree, or she can fight it.
The costs will not necessarily be awarded against the mother, and could infact go complete opposite.
Why has she not called in the CSA about this?0 -
Well she can agree, or she can fight it.
The costs will not necessarily be awarded against the mother, and could infact go complete opposite.
Why has she not called in the CSA about this?
I think because she thinks it's all down to the courts now. What would the CSA do ?"The time is always right to do what is right"0 -
If you go via the CSA route then maintenance will stop in September when the child starts attending Uni.
As the court ordered maintenance appears to have been in force for more than 12 months then CSA will override the court order.
I think the NRP, if he wishes, can open a CSA case which would kill off the maintenance order. Although he would need to do t quickly to get the application lodged while CSA would still have jurisdiction over it.This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com0 -
YEs there seem to be more CSA updates, which i need to read up on.
Anyway, if he's offering to pay direct, then you'd find out sooner or later if he was or wasnt, dont really think its that big a problem0 -
YEs there seem to be more CSA updates, which i need to read up on.
Anyway, if he's offering to pay direct, then you'd find out sooner or later if he was or wasnt, dont really think its that big a problem
It will be a big problem for the child if he doesn't pay as she needs that money to live on. The mother doesn't have the money to make up the difference he doesn't pay up."The time is always right to do what is right"0 -
If you go via the CSA route then maintenance will stop in September when the child starts attending Uni.
As the court ordered maintenance appears to have been in force for more than 12 months then CSA will override the court order.
I think the NRP, if he wishes, can open a CSA case which would kill off the maintenance order. Although he would need to do t quickly to get the application lodged while CSA would still have jurisdiction over it.
Sorry not really understanding what you have said. Are you saying he can go to the CSA and would be able to make it so he doesn't have to pay anything at all while the child t uni ?"The time is always right to do what is right"0 -
Quite possibly. The NRP is free to open a CSA case as well. And if he manages it in time then maintenance will stop as there would be no entitlement once the child starts uni. It would then be up to the 'child' to take the NRP to court to get the maintenance. PWC would not be a party to this.This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com0
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Sorry not really understanding what you have said. Are you saying he can go to the CSA and would be able to make it so he doesn't have to pay anything at all while the child t uni ?
Child maintenance is not usually payable once a child is at university. The payments only continue if this has been court ordered, and they tend to be on cases from several years ago. However, in any maintenance case that is court ordered, it is possible to go to the CSA after a year and open a case with. Them. The court order is then no longer in existence.
In your case, as the child is about to start university, if the father decided to go to the CSA,they would say that there is no case as the child does not qualify, due to being in higher education. Therefore there would be no maintenance payable to either the mother or the child.
It seems to me that the mother should allow the name change and let the maintenance go directly to the chld, as then there is at least a chance the child will get something in the way of financial support from her dad, even if it is only at first, or is sporadic payments. The child is expected to support themselves with any stuendent loans available.0 -
kingfisherblue wrote: »Child maintenance is not usually payable once a child is at university. The payments only continue if this has been court ordered, and they tend to be on cases from several years ago. However, in any maintenance case that is court ordered, it is possible to go to the CSA after a year and open a case with. Them. The court order is then no longer in existence.
In your case, as the child is about to start university, if the father decided to go to the CSA,they would say that there is no case as the child does not qualify, due to being in higher education. Therefore there would be no maintenance payable to either the mother or the child.
It seems to me that the mother should allow the name change and let the maintenance go directly to the chld, as then there is at least a chance the child will get something in the way of financial support from her dad, even if it is only at first, or is sporadic payments. The child is expected to support themselves with any stuendent loans available.
Apparently neither party can go to the CSA because the court order is an old one (2003) before changes can in to allow that ."The time is always right to do what is right"0 -
In that case the NRP is within his rights to go back to court to vary the order.This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com0
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