foreign child support order?

Linda_Secker

My husband and I are friends with a Polish couple with two children, who split up 6 months ago for the umpteenth time. They divorced 6 or 7 years ago, in Poland, and an order was made for child maintenance in the Polish courts. Since then they have been back together off and on, but this time, she has taken up with another man and the break up looks permanent.

Both parents are planning to stay in England. He has lived here nearly 2 years, she for 18 mths. They both work and she gets tax credits.

So what happens next? Can an order made in a Polish court be enforced here? Can/should she take him to a UK court? Or is all this done through the CSA? I know CSA involvement wouldn’t be automatic. I also know (and we have suggested to both parents) that it would all be better handled privately, but she is determined that either he coughs up what she asks for or she will take him to court.

He loves his children dearly. Emotionally he is in a bad way and also he is terrified that he will be told to pay more than he can afford. It’s not that he doesn’t want to support them, he does, but his income is low, and after the rent and bills on the house (3 beds) he is barely able to manage. He will not be able to pay the amount originally ordered by the Polish court.

We thought the acrimony would resolve itself after a bit, but it seems to be getting worse. She is going to Poland next week for a couple of days, on her own. The children were going to be staying with their dad, but she has changed her mind and decided to leave them with the new boyfriend.

She owns a flat and shares in Poland and he is sure she is going there to dispose of these assets (none of which have been declared here) by signing them over to her mother.

It’s all a horrible mess and we are trying not to take sides, but we felt the least we could do was try to find out what the legal position around child maintenance is – for both parties’ sake.

enemes

Linda_Secker wrote: »

I also know (and we have suggested to both parents) that it would all be better handled privately, but she is determined that either he coughs up what she asks for or she will take him to court.

Hi Linda ... just come across your post.

You have done the best thing, advising them to do things privately. Her threats of going to court, must be taken as just that ... threats. It is unlikely that they would get Legal Aid, so is she realistically in a position to afford court costs. Surely, common sense prevails, anything spent in the legal process, is monies that the children are not going to get.

Sorry, I cant offer advice about wether Polish jurisdiction is current here, but I do know that a court order made here, does prevail throughout the E.U.

I hope they can sort it out for the childrens' sake.