Court Order concern

Hi,

I was divorced in 2010, court order finally agreed in Oct-2011.
This committed me to paying £1000 a month in child maintenance (no spousal maintenance) until the usual CSA termination dates. It did include the rider that this would continue "while he can afford it".
It also committed me to a true-up each April, which usually resulted in me paying an extra £2-3k or thereabouts (at the time, i ran a limited company).

I adhered to that court order through 2011 and most of 2012. However, at the end of 2012, i took a permanent job and closed my business. I continued to pay the same amount of maintenance until January 2013, when i agreed with my ex wife that i would reduce what i paid to a small sum of £850, which was in line with CSA net income rates. Unfortunately, as things were a little happier back then, this was agreed verbally.

As a consequence, in 2013, i paid what the CSA would have expected me to pay, but £1329 less than the court order said.
Neither my ex wife nor I thought to get the court order changed, as we both understood it was only in force for 12 months (i now understand that it was in force for 12 months if a CSA order came into force after that period, otherwise it would continue).

In 2014, i paid the net income CSA rate until April, when the gross income scheme came in. I contacted my ex wife and voluntary increased the payment to £1024. In 2014, as in 2013, i also paid her the relevant share of my annual bonus.
In October 2014, my son went to University, so again, i reduced the payment in line with what the CSA rules state and gave him the difference.

This means that i am now paying £830 per month.

Over Christmas, she rang me and told me that she thinks i am concealing income, as my new wife has a new car (she does - -4 years old, £4k, bought using the rest of my bonus money and my wife''s own savings). She says she intends going to the Court to have the Consent Order set aside as i have not adhered to it. Apparently, i owe her "thousands" and she wants the court to look at the asset split again (she got 70%, i got 30% - which i used to pay down marital debts).

I''ve been through every payment i''ve ever made to her and although i am undoubtedly in breach of the court order, the actual amount that i haven''t paid is only around £900 in total - and some of this can be explained by the fact that my eldest son went to University. When CSA measures are taken into account, i''ve actually paid a little more than i should.

Do i need to be concerned about the Court setting aside the order, or am i just going to get a slap on the wrist for a technical breach? It was made at a time when i earned about 20% more than i do now.
I''ve offered her the £900, but she says that i am just doing that because i don''t want the court burrowing into my financial affairs.
I get a salary. She gets copy payslips. I have one bank account. There is nothing to hide.

Jon.

jammin35 wrote:

Hi,


Over Christmas, she rang me and told me that she thinks i am concealing income, as my new wife has a new car (she does - -4 years old, £4k, bought using the rest of my bonus money and my wife''s own savings). She says she intends going to the Court to have the Consent Order set aside as i have not adhered to it. Apparently, i owe her "thousands" and she wants the court to look at the asset split again (she got 70%, i got 30% - which i used to pay down marital debts).

I''ve been through every payment i''ve ever made to her and although i am undoubtedly in breach of the court order, the actual amount that i haven''t paid is only around £900 in total - and some of this can be explained by the fact that my eldest son went to University. When CSA measures are taken into account, i''ve actually paid a little more than i should.

Do i need to be concerned about the Court setting aside the order, or am i just going to get a slap on the wrist for a technical breach? It was made at a time when i earned about 20% more than i do now.
I''ve offered her the £900, but she says that i am just doing that because i don''t want the court burrowing into my financial affairs.
I get a salary. She gets copy payslips. I have one bank account. There is nothing to hide.

Jon.

Why would you need to be concerned if you were honest with your financial disclosure at the time? They will only set it aside if something major comes up that would have been unfair not to have been taken into account at the time.

As regards the court order for child maintenance if it is more than 12 months old why not just apply to CMS for assessment? That would end the court order and there would be no doubt as to what you should pay and you could keep your finances private from your ex.

I''m concerned because I''ve not adhered to the terms of the court order....I was absolutely honest in my disclosure and have no concerns there.

When I got in touch with them, they opened a case and sent my ex wife some paperwork. She didn''t fill it in. When I rang they told me I was non compliant...because she hadn''t filled it in. After a long conversation with them in which I explained my ex wife never responds to anything important, they advised closing thr case.

As I understand it, a CMS assessment requires my wife to at least confirm she has care of my kids.

A Consent Order is intended to be final and they are difficult to set aside. Your wife would need to provide evidence which has come to light of of non disclosure at the time the Consent Order was made to have it set aside on the grounds of non disclosure. So as long your disclosure on the financial information statement was full and frank you shouldn''t be concerned about the Consent Order being set aside.

However as you now know child maintenance in a Consent Order is legally binding and enforceable and remains in effect until the CSA/CMS do an assessment and notify the courts. So your former wife could apply to enforce any arrears that accrue during the time the order is effective. It''s a shame there is no written record of agreeing the reduction but if you can provide documentary evidence of your decreases in pay, payment of child maintenance at CSA rates and you have reasonably tried to compromise and resolve the dispute a judge may be sympathetic.