Just not getting involved......

[Oneofmany]

So lets say there's a few quid in house equity and a decent amount in a pension whats the situation if one was to just to disappear off to another county and leave all the shit behind?

What can they actually do???

asking for a friend

 

[Ash]

Don’t know but what’s the point? He’d lose everything. Maybe extradition? I’m not entirely sure but I think CMS can still chase people abroad.

Tell your friend to hang in there - it’s a new year soon. There is life after divorce.

 

[Unknown01]

CMS are limited to the UK. If you leave the UK, the courts gain jurisdiction over child maintenance and UK court orders can be enforced in most overseas courts. However, in most cases it is expensive and difficult for the claimant and can take years (and the payer can just leave that country and go to another, starting the whole process all over again).

There would be no immediate grounds for extradition and it would not be in the public interest to pursue it for non-payment of maintenance.

If your friend wants to be untouchable in a westernised country then his best bet is Japan, if he can hack learning the language. Costa Rica is difficult to enforce a court order in too, as is the UAE. Some US states are tricky too, especially if the potential recipient of maintenance committed adultery and that can be proven.

It might be worth him moving his pension too if he can. UK Courts can't touch overseas pensions.

 

[Ash]

I'm really not sure what it's like with the CMS but I remember in the days of the CSA, the debt accrued while you were living abroad, and if they came back to the Uk 10 years later, they were presented with the bill. In effect they couldn't afford to come back.