varying child maintenance agreed by consent order

Hi

Apologies if this is already advised on elsewhere here - if anyone would be kind enough to point me in the right direction - I did a search and didn't find what I need.

My circumstances - a bit complicated so bear with me... I agreed a Consent Order (came into force June) including provision to pay £400 cm to my ex wife. That was when I was earning - I am self employed and work as a contractor with periods of employment followed by periods of 'resting' (i.e. no work). I have been out of work for two months now and funded the cm from my contingency fund. I have not found suitable work and it now looks like I will have to take a big drop in earnings to find any work, although I am holding out for suitable work still (suitable means I can keep my child care commitments). There is some money in my business but I honestly feel I will have to invest in a business venture in order to generate an income in a way that allows me to continue to have family life and see my kids (I have them 5 days out of 14 and would have them more but see below).
I have some savings from my part of the divorce settlement which are earmarked for improvements to my new house. The ex also has savings likewise. There is a nominal spousal maintenance order.
I want to adjust the cm payments to reflect my circumstances. However relations between the ex and I are poor because of money related issues (she has stood in the way of shared parenting in order to maintain a grip on the Family Allowance and Children s Tax Credits).
I would like to come to a mutual agreement but past experience tells me that I had better understand the more aggressive options in order to improve my negotiating position.

My question(s)
Anyone with similar experiences out there? How would a court view this if I had to apply for a change? Can anyone suggest how to do this? How is it best present the case through a cost effective route?

I think that cm is related to income (and not savings) and as income (into my company) is £0 and income I pay me out of contingency has dropped to half of what it was already then that needs to be reflected in a variation of some kind to the cm. As I mentioned I am anticipating resistance from ex given her previous behavior so if anyone can offer advice on an approach to negotiation then that would be really helpful also.

Yours fretfully

Your consent order has to run a year re child maintenance and then you can apply to CSA. So you will have to pay the £400 until June 2012, then you are entitled to pay via CSA rules.

Hope this helps.

It would be unwise to attempt to vary an order this new.

If you fail and you almost certainly will you will probably have to pay the others sides costs.

If you can afford to pay even using savings the court will order you to pay.

How about an order over a year old and where one of the children has moved in with me?

If the Consent Order is more than a year old, then you would need to refer to the CSA, or try to work out an amicable agreement.

Courts only have jurisdiction to enforce clauses relating to CM for the first 12 months after the order is sealed (unless the order pre-dates 2003)

As said above after one year either party may apply to the CSA. The CSA would then notify the courts and the consent order would cease to have any effect as far as child maintenance is concerned two or three months after the CSA received the application.

Just to clarify , the court can enforce payment of arrears when CM is included in a consent order which still is in effect.