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How much do I have to pay?

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bristol360

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I'm on bail (false allegations) and she's already submitted a claim in three weeks. I'm still paying all the fixed bills (gas, elec, water, council tax etc) and the whole mortgage payment on a joint mortgage.

Can she do this? I can't contact her yet to discuss, there are no final child arrangements in place it seems the CMS will pursue me for full whack according to earnings.

My only option is to cut to half the mortgage and cancel all the bills and divert them to her in the meantime. She can afford it.

The CMS service advises mortgage payments are not valid if I have an interest in the property which makes no sense all at. Surely the purpose here is to make the father provide? Which I am doing.
 
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Your only legal obligation, if you're separated, is to pay Child Maintenance at the assessed rate. You could set up a standing order to your ex for the mortgage eg rather than pay it direct and give that standing order a reference "Child Maintenance". However - is the mortgage solely in your name or joint names? And if you don't pay it direct to the mortgage company, she could possibly not use the money to pay the mortgage - if you sent it to her rather than the mortgage company. Do you think that's likely? Then the mortgage company would come after you.

A better option might be to cancel all bills and transfer them to her name only, and set up a separate monthly standing order to ex with the reference "Child Maintenance". Then she can use it how she wants (which they're actually entitled to do - they don't have to prove what they've spent CM on!).

Could you remortgage on interest only as well? If it's in joint names you'd both have to sign for that though.

Assume you can't contact her because you're on bail.
 
Hi, thanks for sorting the thread - and apologies for the hassle!

With the mortgage, guess I could also pay my half and let the bank write to her for the rest? It's joint but I currently pay it all (including the deposit) since day one if I'm not living there she can pay her half and have the child maintenance to pay bills and mortgage?

Just seems a bit fraudulent to do this from her side when she knows there is nothing I can do to contest this until bail is lifted.

I could possibly switch to interest only but she probably wouldn't agree. So in theory I could:

- pay the bank my half of the mortgage per month
- pay the CMS request which actually is the equivalent for her share of the mortgage
- hope she pays her share of mortgage and doesn't let it default?
- she pays the bills?


I'd feel bad about it, and I was happy to keep paying the bills till we could actually get through bail and talk about what to do next, for the sake of the kids but this is just greedy.
 
I suggest you get this all sorted formally to avoid problems down the line.

First, cancel or redirect all bills. You don't live there, they are not yours.

Second, pay half the mortgage. It's a joint liability.

Third, make it absolutely clear to CMS (because the idiots who work there often don't know this) that your contribution to a joint mortgage in place before separation is joint debt and they should vary the CMS payment downwards by the amount you are paying. The idiots at CMS often don't understand this because of a separate clause in their regulations that deals with mortgages raised after separation that you contribute towards.

This will mean 1) you are not paying her bills; 2) you are covering your share of the mortgage directly with the bank and 3) you are only paying CMS net of the mortgage payment.

The most likely outcome of the false allegations is that she'll withdraw them at some point in the future. The second most likely is that you are found not guilty. Unfortunately, she won't be punished for making these allegations and will probably get legal aid which is why she did it. Luckily, most of the legal profession know about this racket nowadays and most judges will take an instant dislike to her if she made serious allegations that weren't proven.
 
Thanks. So if I understand this correctly:

- change/redirect bills
- pay my half the mortgage
- tell CMS to downgrade my payment by the amount I'm paying so if they assessed 500 maintenance and I'm paying 250 of the mortgage (hypothetical) I pay 250 maintenance to her?

Is there any guidance anywhere? Everywhere I look the info point to helping people claim.

Thanks again, gives me hope.
 
No. Welcome to the world of being the "paying parent" where everyone will treat you with suspicion and begrudge the shirt on your back even if your children live in a mansion with the receiving parent.

CMS don't even understand their own regulations, so good luck getting any guidance out of them. It's probable that they won't vary until you appeal but I advise you only pay what you have to as otherwise they might not force the receiving parent to pay you back when they realise they were wrong.
 
I was in the same situation as you.

House is in our joint names and 50/50 joint owners.

1. First thing I would do is refuse to pay the whole mortgage. Not only is she living there, but she owns half the house. She needs to pay up.
The fact you've been paying all these years will look good if she ever causes problems down the line when selling the house but for the moment, she needs to pay her share. You will seriously struggle to cover all your bills otherwise.

2. If any of the bills are in your name, get yourself off them. You don't want her to end up in financial problems, not be able to pay, and then it would affect your credit score. I did this last week. Phone the utility companies up. They will use the same process as if you were moving house and close the accounts. The accounts will be closed, final bills and credits to your account. Your ex will then get a welcome letter from them and she can sort out her new electricity, gas, etc tariff. Not your problem any more.

I completly agree with you about the CMS not taking mortgages seriously! I received the form to fill in and it has the part about if it is a morgage with interest in the property. Of course you have interest in the property as one day youll want half of it's value whe it sells.
I coulsnt quite understand the madness behind that.

What are your plans? Do you want to sell the house?
 
Thanks for the advice, sounds like I need to take action immediately..the CMS are just a absolute...well, let's keep it clean and just say useless!

Did you get anywhere with them acknowledging the mortgage?

And yes, I think the only way is to sell up asap. Not just for the money, but to cut ties and have just concentrate on my kids.
 
The CMS are indeed useless although you may be lucky and actually talk to someone with a bit of knowledge it really depends who you get.
As I have mentioned in another topic, they just send automatic letters and I had 3 reminders to complete my CMS information yet it had already been done. The place must be run by animals as nothing gets done.
Do not give up though.
I found that it was helpful to upload a letter detailing all my concerns through the CMS portal. Then there is a log you have submitted details too.
I sent all my outgoings and how I would end up with nothing to survive.

If your ex is against you she may also ask for you to pay via a manged service which adds a further 20% each month. You do not need to do this and unless you cause problems or don't pay then you are entitled to pay her directly into her bank account and this costs nothing.

I got nowhere with them acknowledging the mortgage. They sent me the form to fill in which if you own the house and have interest in it then it is useless.
Then it was talking about claiming for expenses for boarding school costs. This is totally irrelevant to me.
Sadly I don't think they will listen to the mortgage information.
Due to this I would say get rid of the house ASAP.

It took me a good while and also for several forum members here to make me realise my family home and the place I'd invested time and money is not what it once was and I was a fool to think I'd be there again one day.

She should either buy you out or if not you sell. You need to be able to get your life going as well so you deserve 50% of the house sale.
 
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