Arrears

Cambrian123

Hi, Can anyone help please. Back in November 2016 I was in arrears to the tune of £1700. Since then I have paid the monthly amount as per letters from CMS, and I always understood that the payments were made up of “ongoing maintenance” which is the percentage of your wages that you should be paying, plus a bit extra towards the arrears. Up until last month, all payments have been made so I expected the arrears amount to have gone down (or be completely paid off)..... The CMS now inform me that the arrears are actually £2200! How on earth has that figure increased when I’ve been paying what has been required of me? No one can help when I call them. They say they don’t hold records unless they are collecting the payments. If that’s the case, how the hell can they come up with an arrears figure? I feel like I’m going mad as I can’t make head nor tail or it.. anyone else had experience of this?

jjj1980

Have you been making payments via CMS or direct to the resident parent?

Have you got proof, such as bank statements of the payments made with them clearly referenced as child support?

Did CMS apply for any Liability Orders or DEOs as there are fees incurred for these so will have increased the amount owed.

If you have an online account with CMS, it would be worth a check of the letters they have sent and the assessments recorded. You should also be able to easily see details of how much you should be paying and by when.

Cambrian123

Hi, payments go straight to the resident parent via BACS, I can!!!8217;t remember if it says Child Maintenance in the reference field, I will check.

I did have a DEO for a short time after I had been out of work for a couple of months and struggled to get back on top of things. I can!!!8217;t find a record of them informing me about what fees were incurred so I will look into that, thanks.

I will also see if I can create an online account. I!!!8217;m pretty sure I have all the letters - but definitely worth checking.

Thanks for your help.

Jessy07

Did you start paying direct to resident parent towards arrears and ongoing maintenance? Will she agree? If you have proof send in evidence .