Made redundant can't pay maintenance

I was divorced back in 2000. I have a Consent Order in which I agreed to pay for my children a monthly figure which increases in line with inflation until they reach 17 or finish Full Time Secondary education. I hade kept to this agreement.

I have my children 11 out of every 28 days, and have to provide for them, as well as paying the maintenance.

Unfortunately I have now been made redundant. I have advised my X that I can no longer pay this maintenance whilst out of work, although I will once back in work, in line with CSA recommendations (not currently bound by a CSA agreement). Of course, she thinks I should pay out of my redundancy pay, but this is not a huge amount and won't last long if I have to.

From what I have researched, I can apply for a variation on the consent order by applying to the court. I do not want to run up huge legal fees as this would also eat into the money, win or lose.

Can anyone offer advice on how to do this and how long it will take. What happens if I cease the payments in the meantime?

As your order predates March 2003 the courts have jurisdiction so you will need to apply for a variation. You can apply yourself using Form A which is available to download from HMCourts website.

It can take sometime to go through to a final hearing but it is possible to agree a consent order at any time during the proceedings. When it isn't possible to get blood from a stone you can't pay maintenance but in the meantime it wouldn't be unreasonable if you can contribute something from your redundancy money until the first hearing.

If you can make some sort of offer, albeit reduced, that may help your case.
If your income goes down, and its not your own fault, a court is highly likely to reduce maintenance until you are back in work.
The alternative is to leave it to your X to take you to court and then apply. If you have proof that you have given her all the relevant info about your situation, that is often a practical way of doing it. She has to decide to take the first step, and if she has legal advice she'll probably be told that she's unlikely to succeed in enforcing if you don't have an income to enforce against.
You do however need to remember that if the order isn't changed, arrears accrue. She may have the same problems for the same reasons if she tries to enforce arrears accrued while you were unemployed, and after a year the court don't normally enforce "old" arrears.