can child support be taken from any savings?

Evening, just a quick quesiton.

I have 2 children 7 and 9 with my ex husband and unfortunately he is currently not working. We have a court order for spousal maintenance and child support. The order is 6 years old.

He has said that he received a lump sum from his employer and can only afford to pay child support to the end of next month when it will stop because he says he has no money.

I accept that based on the fact he is not earning he cannot pay any maintenance. I work part-time.

My question really is that he is a very high earner, his last P60 stated his gross salary at £275k. The first he''s ever shown me! (Our court order was not based on this salary and even though I knew he was earning significantly more over the years I have not sought a variation because I have enough.)

So I think that would equate to £13k per month eek nearly 10 times what I get part-time.

If (and I don''t know his finances) he has savings, which surely he must do on this salary would I be able to Petition for child support from any of these savings??? I cannot believe he could spend £10k a month, surely how could you!!

Are there are laws regarding this??

Would appreciate some advice, many thanks.

Your ex should not simply stop paying what the Court has ordered. If he claims he can no longer afford it he should apply for a variation, this will require full financial disclosure. A court can consider capitalising maintenance if there are sufficient resources.

Does your order separate spousal and child maintenance? Or is it a global figure?

Hi there,

Yes the order does separate it to half and half. I believe he is planning to apply for a variation (reading between the lines of his solicitors letter) but to be frank I''d rather sort it out without the need of going to court but he won''t disclose his finances or the lump sum he was given. The P60 is the first I''ve seen in 6 years and that was forced out of him! Going from the figures there child support is under what he should have been paying (is it 20% for 2??) but then he does also pay me spousal maintenance.

I have agreed that whilst he is not working that certainly the spousal maintenance can be dropped until he obtains employment.

I have also agreed that once he has found employment we can look at varying our court order. I don''t see why he would want to vary it immediately as I am not seeking to enforce it... apart from the child support. As I do feel if he has savings he should be paying child support.

I just have this feeling it''s all going to get very messy and it could just be so easy to sort out. Seems ludicrous to vary now when we could vary when he obtains employment.

I forgot he additionally has unearned income from a significantly sized rental property. Again I have no figures but that could be taken into account too for child support??

Either of you can apply to the CMS for a child maintenance assessment once the Court Order is 12 months old. CMS works on income if he is not earning the assessment is likely to be nil, however yes and you can certainly apply to have the rental income taken into account on a variation form.

You say you have agreed to a reduction in SM, I am not sure I would have done this especially if your Child maintenance payments are likely to reduce.

Your ex was evidently an extremely high earner and it sounds like he is sitting on a nest egg of capital. He is not releasing you details of his lump sum which to me says it all, why hide something if you have nothing to hide!

Hi maisymoos

I''ve only agreed to drop the spousal whilst he''s not working and then re-evaluate it when he gets another job.

I really had no idea his income had risen to those levels. Which is why I asked the question about if he could pay child support from any savings (as he has no earned income).

It is upsetting that he has not offered to do so (even to a lesser degree) and is pleading poverty, and I suppose he could have spent everything but I somehow doubt it

Would a court be able to order him to pay CM from savings or is it a no go area and CM only comes out of earnings? He currently does not fall under the CSA/CMS(?) as he resides outside of the UK.

My apologies I am sadly out of date with the current laws.

Hard one, but I personally would go back and say you have reviewed your financial situation and cannot accept a reduction in SM. He is saying he is going to stop CM payments (unless he applies to the CMS he will be in breach of the Court Order.) Sometimes you need to take a hard stance he needs to apply for a formal variation to the Court Order if he wants to reduce your SM payments and if he hasn''t made an application to the CMS he also needs to apply for a variation to reduce /stop CM.

I may seem to take a hard view point but I have had to fight hard for everything. Is your situation more amicable.. dont let yourself be walked on. X