Global maintenance/ court order

ldp

Hi looking forward advise please, been pointed to this section of the forum. I have a global maintenance payment for 2 children for £1000 which is due to reduce to £750 when my eldest child finishes full time education. He is 18 in July & due to finish his A levels this summer, then hopefully will go off to do an apprenticeship. My understanding is that the money will cease then. 

He has moved in with his dad, not through my choice & I’m not sure if it’s temporary. His dad has reduced my payments to £500 without notice. 

I work full time but on a low income so receive child tax credits which I will have to stop if he isn’t to return. His dad is on 70k so there’s a huge disparity. 

Is it legal for him to do this after a court order from divorce??? 

BAFE

He isn't allowed to vary the terms of the court order no.  However, it seems logical for him to reduce payments to £500 if one child is now living with him and I think a court would agree too.  What is your objection to this?

ldp

My problem with this is that I earn 15k & he earns 70k. I will still have to run the family home & keep his room & things incase he wants to return which means my bills are higher whereas he lives in a flat. My son is working part time & I can guarantee he won’t get any money off of his dad either as he’s never paid a penny more than he’s been ordered to. My daughter doesn’t spend anytime there so yes it would be a 50% split childcare wise but with such a disparity in wages it seems unrealistic! In effect once I loose child tax credits of £250 plus £500 maintenance that’s more than I can afford & my daughter shouldn’t have to go without. 

I expected to loose £250 as per court order but not £500 & without notice! 

Hope that makes sense thank you 😊 

BAFE

What plans have you put in place for when the children turn 18 and you lose all the child benefit, child tax credits and child maintenance?  £15k is a very small amount of money - is that for full time hours?   

ldp

I’m a full time teaching assistant but been studying to step up to be a cover teacher. I’ve had to have a job to fit around the kids as have had no one for school runs, clubs or school holidays. I still have a few years so trying not to panic just yet! 

tightauldgit

ldp said:

Hi looking forward advise please, been pointed to this section of the forum. I have a global maintenance payment for 2 children for £1000 which is due to reduce to £750 when my eldest child finishes full time education. He is 18 in July & due to finish his A levels this summer, then hopefully will go off to do an apprenticeship. My understanding is that the money will cease then. 

He has moved in with his dad, not through my choice & I’m not sure if it’s temporary. His dad has reduced my payments to £500 without notice. 

I work full time but on a low income so receive child tax credits which I will have to stop if he isn’t to return. His dad is on 70k so there’s a huge disparity. 

Is it legal for him to do this after a court order from divorce??? 

Since it's a Global Maintenance Order and not a CMS award then I think you will need to revert back to the court for enforcement. I don't see how he can legally change the amount without court approval but given the change of circumstances it may well be that a court would amend the order to reflect that one child is no longer living with you. 

Certainly CMS would take that into account in their calculations. 

I think you CAN still go to CMS and get them to make an award for you so it might be worth working out what CMS would calculate he has to pay based on the current arrangements and if it's more than the £500 then make that application. Otherwise apply to court to enforce the existing order, but I would think the change of circumstances would have to be considered and the £1000 reduced.

Have you run the CMS calculator to see roughly what they would say you are entitled to?

poppy12345

The child is no longer living with you so i don't know why you expect the father to still pay you. It seem logical to me the reason why he's stopping paying for one child. Paying £1000 for 2 children is £500 each child so one leaving home and continuing to receive £500 is correct. 

As the child is no longer living with you then you'll need to report the changes to HMRC otherwise, you'll have an overpayment of tax credits. Everyone that claims benefits for their children will see them stop once they leave full time education and we all have to budget for this.

ldp

I’ve explained the reasons above. My question has been is it legal? The court already decided that I would still receive £750 with one child due to the disparity in our incomes. If he only pays £500 now my daughter will loose out plus she spends mo time there. 

BAFE

No it's not legal.

Your options now are 

1.  Take him back to court - of course this will cost a lot of money, potentially more money than you've actually lost, and thats if you win of course, which you probably wont.

2.  Suck it up and put all your energy into improving your own qualifications, earning power  and career prospects.

My husband left me with 2 kids and no money and was earning 5 x the amount I was.  Eight years later I out-earned him.  That was the second happiest day of my life.

ldp

I love this! Well done you 👏🏼 What was the first? The day you divorced him? 

I have been studying for 2 years at 46 which I haven’t enjoyed. I start a new job Monday & will continue to look into a higher paid role. Can I ask how you have managed to out earn him by that much? That’s impressive! 

Spendless

Surely from the beginning of September your ex would need to pay £750per month as per the court order? At that point even if eldest had continued to live with you/returned to you, your entitlement to child related benefits would be reduced to just for the 1 child and your ex couldn't continue to pay £500 instead even if eldest remains with him because at that point child maintenance wouldn't be payable for him. Leaving aside the issue of whether what the ex has done is legally or morally correct it might be worth you re-adjusting your budget for 6 months and then if ex doesn't pay £750 from September onwards then look at it going back through the court.

In the meantime as you look to claw back costs elsewhere due to a reduced income you weren't expecting, as previously advised, stop paying for the clubs etc for the older one and let him and his Dad take responsibility for those.