CMS- Next to useless
swingaloo
Posts: 2,743 Forumite
Im posting this on behalf of my daughter.
Just some background first. She and her ex husband had 3 children together and when they were aged 1, 4 and 6 he laft her for a woman he worked with. They have since married and divorced (no more children) and he has now moved on to wife 3.
Since they separated he never once had the children for an overnight stay, when asked he said 'You are the parent with care, Care for them' end of. He has never had a regular contact sometimes due to working away for periods but mostly because as he put it 'I work hard during the week to pay you so weekends are my time'.
My daughter has got used to the situation and to be fair he has always paid maintenance regularly.
At the time of the divorce there was a court order which said the maintenance should go up each year with the rate of inflation but it has never changed from the initial sum which was set 11 years ago. She has never bothered about that as she was just happy to be getting the sum she was regularly.
He has always had a very good job and been a high earner. The amount he pays is less than the calculator shows he should pay based on the wage he was getting when they split up but as I say she was happy with the amount so never rocked the boat. She works full time as well now the children are growing up.
Now, wife number 3 is not happy with the amount he pays and says he should lower it. They have no children together nor does she want any. But, they want to buy a house and she wants a 5 bedroom on a new estate nearby so he said she had requested that my daughter take less maintenance.
He then told my daughter that he could no longer afford the figure he was paying, despite still having the same job with the same company and must have had pay rises over 12 years.
In trying to compromise my daughter and he came to a figure both would be happy with and the money was reduced 4 months ago. However, a few weeks ago he told her it would need to be reduced again as he and his wife had 'increased outgoings' and the sum he suggested was a third of what he had previously paid.
At this point there was an argument between them where my daughter told him to man up and stop letting his new wife ell him what to do. Cue the new wife coming to the doorstep to tell my daughter that she had ripped hi off long enough and she was going to see it stopped.
Since then her ex hubby has avoided speaking to her. He sent her a text calling her bluff and saying he had spoken to the CMS and they had advised that the figure he had wanted to pay was acceptable so he dropped the money to a third of his previous payments.
Knowing full well that the CMS would not have told him that figure was acceptable if he had told the truth about his earnings my daughter phoned them herself. A case was opened and she received paperwork saying what the figure would be and it was actually over £200 more a month than he had been paying originally. My daughter sent him an email as he will still not answer the phone and told him that she was happy to go with the previous figure hey had both agreed on and keep the CMS out of it. But now he was fuming because she had rung the CMS and told her she would get whats coming to her!
Well, to cut a long story short, he usually pays on the first of each month but he paid nothing in April as he said he was waiting to hear what the payment should be, then nothing in May as he told her it was still not confirmed. She rang the CMS herself and was told that his payment had been agreed and that he was due to start paying on July 1st. Apparently they had asked him what date he wanted to make the payments (this is direct to her and not though them)and he said the first of the month so they then asked did he want to start on the 1st of June or 1st of July. He obviously said July. This means he has paid nothing since the beginning of March so will have missed 3 months payments.
When she rang the CMS to tell them they replied that as he now wants to pay in arrears he is perfectly within his rights to start on July 1st. When she complained that she was without 3 months maintenance she was told that 'You should not rely on maintenance payments to cover direct debits etc'.
Her ex sent her a text saying that as she had contacted the CMS he will make sure she suffers for it.
I thought they were there to ensure fairness on both sides.
Just some background first. She and her ex husband had 3 children together and when they were aged 1, 4 and 6 he laft her for a woman he worked with. They have since married and divorced (no more children) and he has now moved on to wife 3.
Since they separated he never once had the children for an overnight stay, when asked he said 'You are the parent with care, Care for them' end of. He has never had a regular contact sometimes due to working away for periods but mostly because as he put it 'I work hard during the week to pay you so weekends are my time'.
My daughter has got used to the situation and to be fair he has always paid maintenance regularly.
At the time of the divorce there was a court order which said the maintenance should go up each year with the rate of inflation but it has never changed from the initial sum which was set 11 years ago. She has never bothered about that as she was just happy to be getting the sum she was regularly.
He has always had a very good job and been a high earner. The amount he pays is less than the calculator shows he should pay based on the wage he was getting when they split up but as I say she was happy with the amount so never rocked the boat. She works full time as well now the children are growing up.
Now, wife number 3 is not happy with the amount he pays and says he should lower it. They have no children together nor does she want any. But, they want to buy a house and she wants a 5 bedroom on a new estate nearby so he said she had requested that my daughter take less maintenance.
He then told my daughter that he could no longer afford the figure he was paying, despite still having the same job with the same company and must have had pay rises over 12 years.
In trying to compromise my daughter and he came to a figure both would be happy with and the money was reduced 4 months ago. However, a few weeks ago he told her it would need to be reduced again as he and his wife had 'increased outgoings' and the sum he suggested was a third of what he had previously paid.
At this point there was an argument between them where my daughter told him to man up and stop letting his new wife ell him what to do. Cue the new wife coming to the doorstep to tell my daughter that she had ripped hi off long enough and she was going to see it stopped.
Since then her ex hubby has avoided speaking to her. He sent her a text calling her bluff and saying he had spoken to the CMS and they had advised that the figure he had wanted to pay was acceptable so he dropped the money to a third of his previous payments.
Knowing full well that the CMS would not have told him that figure was acceptable if he had told the truth about his earnings my daughter phoned them herself. A case was opened and she received paperwork saying what the figure would be and it was actually over £200 more a month than he had been paying originally. My daughter sent him an email as he will still not answer the phone and told him that she was happy to go with the previous figure hey had both agreed on and keep the CMS out of it. But now he was fuming because she had rung the CMS and told her she would get whats coming to her!
Well, to cut a long story short, he usually pays on the first of each month but he paid nothing in April as he said he was waiting to hear what the payment should be, then nothing in May as he told her it was still not confirmed. She rang the CMS herself and was told that his payment had been agreed and that he was due to start paying on July 1st. Apparently they had asked him what date he wanted to make the payments (this is direct to her and not though them)and he said the first of the month so they then asked did he want to start on the 1st of June or 1st of July. He obviously said July. This means he has paid nothing since the beginning of March so will have missed 3 months payments.
When she rang the CMS to tell them they replied that as he now wants to pay in arrears he is perfectly within his rights to start on July 1st. When she complained that she was without 3 months maintenance she was told that 'You should not rely on maintenance payments to cover direct debits etc'.
Her ex sent her a text saying that as she had contacted the CMS he will make sure she suffers for it.
I thought they were there to ensure fairness on both sides.
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Comments
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Im posting this on behalf of my daughter.
[he sais she said snipped]
I thought they were there to ensure fairness on both sides.
Indeed they are, however it doesn't sound like there is a collect and pay scheme in position, yeah the PWC loses a % but something is better than nothing.0 -
If you think the CMS is bad please take a look at the REMO thread, there's people on there who haven't received any child maintenance for years. They are right, maintenance shouldn't be relied upon, there are a great many NRPs who hide their income so they don't have to pay. The system isn't fair, it never has been, and it's always the children who suffer.0
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Child maintenance is always paid in arrears through the statutory scheme.
When your daughter applied to receive maintenance, they would have written to her ex to tell him about the application. That letter would have set the effective date for her claim. They will not calculate maintenance any further back then that.
If payments are made monthly, the earliest the first payment can be scheduled for is one month after the initial effective date, because payments are made in arrears.
Although the paying parent can select the payment frequency and payment date, they cannot defer payments. Once the initial calculation is made the first payment will always be scheduled for the first available payment date.
When did your daughter actually apply to receive maintenance? You say she received paperwork saying the monthly amount would be £200 more than the private agreement - that suggests she was sent a payment plan. What is the first payment date shown on that plan? Is it 01/07/19? If it’s an earlier date, and that date has passed, I would suggest she contacts CMS again to report the missed payment and request moving the case to collect and pay.
If it has not passed, I would suggest she checks her letter to make a note of the initial effective date and the annual amount payable. She should then check that the payments shown on the payment plan match the annual amount due. If they do, then she will be getting everything she is due. If they do not, she should call CMS.I often use a tablet to post, so sometimes my posts will have random letters inserted, or entirely the wrong word if autocorrect is trying to wind me up. Hopefully you'll still know what I mean.0
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