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CMS Query

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Fellowshipper

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So a year and a half in to this new reality, I still haven't got a letter from the CMS. Why hasn't it happened yet (as in running concurrently with child arrangements)?

I've been thinking it's possibly a deliberate ploy by legal aid advisers asking me for directly yet in discretion (which they did this time last year) to make monthly maintenance payments to my missus at home with the children, rather than refer my case to CMS because I am still taking all of the household debt in my name and am servicing it as I've always done.

Now I'm no longer certain why opposing solicitors have done this, when it surely makes more sense to refer outstanding financial matters to CMS- no?
 
That's what I'm afraid of too. Perhaps it's only the reason the application to CMS is put on the back burner, while pressing child arrangements issues are taking precedence. But I need more info about sharing the burden of finances, I keep getting told everywhere I shouldn't have to shoulder all the debt in particular, so there has to be some merit in this belief!
 
Fellowshipper said:
So a year and a half in to this new reality, I still haven't got a letter from the CMS. Why hasn't it happened yet (as in running concurrently with child arrangements)?

I've been thinking it's possibly a deliberate ploy by legal aid advisers asking me for directly yet in discretion (which they did this time last year) to make monthly maintenance payments to my missus at home with the children, rather than refer my case to CMS because I am still taking all of the household debt in my name and am servicing it as I've always done.

Now I'm no longer certain why opposing solicitors have done this, when it surely makes more sense to refer outstanding financial matters to CMS- no?
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Your ex would need to make an application to CMS before they get involved, they don’t just get involved. She’s probably happy with the fact you are paying all the bills and everything else which may be more than CMS payments. Have a look at the CMS calculator as that would tell you roughly how much you should be paying her. If it’s less I would stop shouldering all the other payments you are making, taking your name off all bills and let her know she is now responsible for the bills. Then tell her you will pay the amount the CMS calculated tells you to pay. She will likely then apply to CMS thinking she will get more.

If you are paying mortgage and it’s a joint mortgage you will be responsible for half, if it’s solely in your name you will have to pay the full mortgage.
 
If there has been no application to the CMS then you won't hear from them. I spent about a year paying directly to my stbx before she made an application to CMS and now it is all official.

Just so you know, once the CMS have calculated the payments then you can pay direct into her bank account. Don't be fobbed off as unless you forget to pay you do not need to use their system which adds a further 20% each month.
 
Nanaforsonsjustice said:
Your ex would need to make an application to CMS before they get involved, they don’t just get involved. She’s probably happy with the fact you are paying all the bills and everything else which may be more than CMS payments. Have a look at the CMS calculator as that would tell you roughly how much you should be paying her. If it’s less I would stop shouldering all the other payments you are making, taking your name off all bills and let her know she is now responsible for the bills. Then tell her you will pay the amount the CMS calculated tells you to pay. She will likely then apply to CMS thinking she will get more.

If you are paying mortgage and it’s a joint mortgage you will be responsible for half, if it’s solely in your name you will have to pay the full mortgage.
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Thank you for your response, nana! One thing I did very early on was to remove my name from all of the household bills, but I also had to inform Universal Credit of the situation and all supplementary benefit money has since been received solely by the missus. Several months down the line, her solicitor forwarded a message to me asking for once monthly £300 maintenance payments, to which I agreed, yet I am paying that on top of all the credit card debt we've racked up over the years. No mortgages apply, as I was renting.

Before I was the sole income earner with everything in the household under my name, now the state/taxpayer has practically usurped my role, so now there is effectively two incomes between us and income parity to boot. But she's certainly receiving significantly more income than me, and more than what she ought to be receiving. If anything I'd be entitled to claw some of money back, in the given situation (credit card debt, no mortgage).
 
You should take a look at the cms calculator, it will tell you how much you should be paying. If it’s less than the £300 I would just advise you are paying the amount cms says you should as you cannot maintain a higher payment due to the amount of debt you are paying off.

Is the credit card debt a joint debt? Or just in your name.

My son pays almost £400 a month to his ex for his son, but he is in a nicely paid IT job and cms have said that’s how much he should pay. He doesn’t get a deduction for having them any overnights because she won’t let him have the child.
 
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