Unpaid child support

Tazadoobii

My mum and dad have been divorced for over 15 years. My dad has never formally paid any child support.

It was in the divorce settlement that a) the house would be signed over to my mum to cover the support of her b) £200 per child a month

He has got out of paying this, simply by saying he doesn't earn enough. He isn't in formal work, but is self employed, has 2 houses, has supported many girlfriends, and has in the past 10 years been in receipt of enough money to atleast pay some of the money he should have done.

Only one of us is under 18 now (not me), in full time education, whether that means anything.

I don't want the money. I just want my dad to be held responsible for his avoidance of a legal obligation. My mum has suffered as she always put her children first.

I'd like to know, if this went to court, would there be a high possibility of him being prosecuted? And how would I begin this?

Thanks all

Caz3121

Tazadoobii wrote: »

It was in the divorce settlement that a) the house would be signed over to my mum to cover the support of her b) £200 per child a month

It is likely that the court would advise that CMS case should now be opened to deal with child maintenance (since the court order is over 12 months old)
CMS will not backdate to before initial contact with them so if your mum was to put a claim in today for the child that still qualifies, the liability would start from when they contact your father with no arrears due
It is worth noting that it can be very difficult for CMS to get payments from self employed. With various ways of tax accounting, it may be that the figure they would use for calculations would be artificially low
How long ago did your mum contact the court to follow up on the lack of payments? If she did not do this in the last 15 years she maybe accepted that it was not going to be a battle worth fighting (if she was receiving benefits at any point, any maintenance over £20 per week would have been deducted from her benefits until 2010 when the rules were changed and the pwc could keep all the maintenance without it affecting benefits)

HappyMJ

Tazadoobii wrote: »

My mum and dad have been divorced for over 15 years. My dad has never formally paid any child support.

It was in the divorce settlement that a) the house would be signed over to my mum to cover the support of her b) £200 per child a month

He has got out of paying this, simply by saying he doesn't earn enough. He isn't in formal work, but is self employed, has 2 houses, has supported many girlfriends, and has in the past 10 years been in receipt of enough money to atleast pay some of the money he should have done.

Only one of us is under 18 now (not me), in full time education, whether that means anything.

I don't want the money. I just want my dad to be held responsible for his avoidance of a legal obligation. My mum has suffered as she always put her children first.

I'd like to know, if this went to court, would there be a high possibility of him being prosecuted? And how would I begin this?

Thanks all

You don't. You shouldn't be getting involved. It's up to your mum to support you and you shouldn't be holding grudges against your dad for his inability to provide for you.

Having 2 houses doesn't imply he has any money. I own a house I don't live in. I don't make any cash from it. Selling it would repay the mortgage and there would be little left over. The rent pays the mortgage and covers the maintenance costs.

You say he has girlfriends..well that's quite normal. He is allowed to have girlfriends. If he's got a small income and the girlfriends do not work they aren't eligible for benefits so yes he has to support them.

Yes he should have paid something but in 15 years has not. Don't worry about it. It's not your problem.

He's self employed so he's probably been showing a minimal taxable income to the HMRC. It's difficult trying to get money out of self employed parents who aren't showing their full income and there's little you or the HMRC can do about it. CMS relies on the information given to HMRC to make an assessment.

Do you still see him? Don't let the matter of money affect your opinion of him. As I said you shouldn't even be aware of the fact he's not paying his fair share.

Tazadoobii

HappyMJ wrote: »

You don't. You shouldn't be getting involved. It's up to your mum to support you and you shouldn't be holding grudges against your dad for his inability to provide for you.

Having 2 houses doesn't imply he has any money. I own a house I don't live in. I don't make any cash from it. Selling it would repay the mortgage and there would be little left over. The rent pays the mortgage and covers the maintenance costs.

You say he has girlfriends..well that's quite normal. He is allowed to have girlfriends. If he's got a small income and the girlfriends do not work they aren't eligible for benefits so yes he has to support them.

Yes he should have paid something but in 15 years has not. Don't worry about it. It's not your problem.

He's self employed so he's probably been showing a minimal taxable income to the HMRC. It's difficult trying to get money out of self employed parents who aren't showing their full income and there's little you or the HMRC can do about it. CMS relies on the information given to HMRC to make an assessment.

Do you still see him? Don't let the matter of money affect your opinion of him. As I said you shouldn't even be aware of the fact he's not paying his fair share.

I'm nearly 20, I disagree I shouldn't know. My mum has struggled greatly because of him, she spent every penny on her kids.

If I saw him, he'd tell me I was using him for money. I decided to stop speaking to him.

There isn't another way to this, what my mum has experienced doesn't impact my view on him directly, but it adds to the decision I've already made not to see him.

Tazadoobii

Caz3121 wrote: »

It is likely that the court would advise that CMS case should now be opened to deal with child maintenance (since the court order is over 12 months old)
CMS will not backdate to before initial contact with them so if your mum was to put a claim in today for the child that still qualifies, the liability would start from when they contact your father with no arrears due
It is worth noting that it can be very difficult for CMS to get payments from self employed. With various ways of tax accounting, it may be that the figure they would use for calculations would be artificially low
How long ago did your mum contact the court to follow up on the lack of payments? If she did not do this in the last 15 years she maybe accepted that it was not going to be a battle worth fighting (if she was receiving benefits at any point, any maintenance over £20 per week would have been deducted from her benefits until 2010 when the rules were changed and the pwc could keep all the maintenance without it affecting benefits)

Hi, thanks for the reply.

When they met at the courts to deal with another matter, the barristor said it's black and white that he owes money.

She didn't accept anything, she was just too scared to go against him.

Is there a body I can approach initially, to see if there's a case?

WYSPECIAL

If there is a court order in place your mum can apply to court for enforcement.

Alternatively she could apply to CMS.

MEM62

Any legal settlement would only have been a requirement for the first 12 months. There is no legal recourse open to you to make you father face his responsibilities.
However, as his child I would say that you have a perfect right to have a face to face conversation with him and ask him why he felt he didn't need to provide for you or your sibling. You won't secure any financial settlement but you can make your father face his conscience - in the unlikely event that he has one.