Refusal to comply with Child Separation Order

I didn''t realise until reading on here that a Child Separation Order wasn''t legal.

So here''s my question. Where do I go from here. My ex husband has now refused to pay what we both agreed in the separation order.

So what do I do now? I''m not a fan of the CSA (if they are even still called that).

His reasons are that he doesn''t see his son anymore so why should he pay! (His choice not to see his son).

I feel a bit stuck now as I always thought the Separation Order was legal so I thought if he ever didn''t comply I would see a solicitor who would try to enforce it but now I assume this isn''t correct.

Any help would be much appreciated

Welcome to Wikivorce.

Do you mean a Separation Agreement? Only courts can make orders.

Is the issue here that he isn''t upholding his agreement with regard to child maintenance, child contact, or both?

If he won''t make child support contributions willingly, then your only option is to make a claim via the Child Maintenance Service. Or simply not make a claim at all. Child Maintenance Options are a free service that provide free and impartial advice on your CM options. You call them on 0800 988 0988

I''m not sure what you mean by Child Separation Order.

If you have a separation agreement it isn''t legally binding or enforceable. However if there was full disclosure, both parties took legal advice and the agreement is "fair" (complies with the law) it will carry considerable weight and a court can usually make an order in similar terms as the agreement. An exception to this is child maintenance because the court normally has no power to *impose* an order for child maintenance when the Child Maintenance Service can process an application.

On the other hand child maintenance may be *agreed* as part of Consent Order settling the finances on divorce. The agreement is then binding and enforceable whilst the Order remains in effect. 12 months after the date of the Consent Order either parent may apply to the CMS for a calculation, the CMS then notify the court and the Consent Order ceases to have any effect with regard to child maintenance.

Contact (or the absence of it) is a different issue and dealt with separately from child maintenance under different bits of legislation.

I meant a ''Statement of Arrangment for Children'' not a separation order

OK, a Statement of Arrangements was just a statement setting out the arrangements made for children so the courts could ensure adequate provision was in place for children at the time of divorce. They aren''t used any more but they weren''t legally binding and arrangements often changed over time as children reached different ages and stages of development, parents changed jobs or acquired new partners and child maintenance increased to keep up with inflation or decreased if the paying parent''s income decreased.

As Ruby said you can contact CM Options for advice and you will need to contact them first if you wish to claim child maintenance through the Child Maintenance Service.

Thank-you for the welcome. Yes the issue is he''s not paying what we agreed. I glued their relationship together for a long time however, my ex doesn''t want anything to do with him as he has a new family now, he hasn''t seen him for at least 2 years. So just wasn''t sure what options were open to me.

Many thanks

Were the finances ever settled with a consent/court order?