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We completed financial proceedings last year. In terms of maintenance my ex is to pay by standing order a certain amount each month (unfortunately no precise date was mentioned in the order, although in an interim order before that stated it was to be the 1st of the month) (they end when my youngest is in Year 8, meaning I have to return to court then if I want maintenance to continue, but that and the rest of the order is the subject for another post!)
My ex has not been paying by standing order, nor is he paying on a predictable date - sometimes it's a drip feed of a couple of hundred on a random date, then the balance before the end of the month. However he has so far paid the full amount in the end. He has also sometimes insisted on paying via Western Union, obliging me to have to go to an outlet with my ID, queue up and collect in person. He's done this again this month and so far I just haven't been able to collect it - I can't make it to the outlet during the working week, and on the weekends we've had things on or one or another of us have been sick (I'm the sole carer to our three children - he does not see them). Given the timing and other circumstances, I have strong reason to believe he's doing this to confirm my whereabouts during the holidays, since he is immediately alerted to the outlet where the money is collected. Yes, coercive control and economic abuse was (is) a feature of our relationship. The rub is that he lives in the Middle East where they have no reciprocal agreement with the UK. So I'm well aware (as is he) that any court order can't be enforced. However he still has ties with the UK, and is highly likely to take me back to court for Child Matters, where we will pick back off where we left off before he withdrew his application.
So my question is, is it worth me making an application to court since he is at least in part breaching it, in terms of the standing order? Also I feel it is important to get a precise date in there, because the unpredictability really impacts me - I'm on a very low income and because of his non-disclosure in the original proceedings, the judge took him at face value that he was living in abject poverty in the Middle East as an expat, and ordered him to pay a low sum - which sadly I am very reliant on as I gave up my original career to care for our children, before the separation. Given how harsh the judge was for our final proceedings I'm really worried a judge will be very impatient and not really care about the manner and date the payments are made, because in the end he pays. Would really value some informed opinions on this, and also how I go about doing it - I was on Legal Aid before, but that's over now the proceedings are finished and I'm concerned about how much I already have to pay them when I sell the house - which is when my youngest goes to secondary school, and my share will be very difficult to find a suitable place for all 4 of us anywhere near the school area - great timing (not)! Thanks in advance.
My ex has not been paying by standing order, nor is he paying on a predictable date - sometimes it's a drip feed of a couple of hundred on a random date, then the balance before the end of the month. However he has so far paid the full amount in the end. He has also sometimes insisted on paying via Western Union, obliging me to have to go to an outlet with my ID, queue up and collect in person. He's done this again this month and so far I just haven't been able to collect it - I can't make it to the outlet during the working week, and on the weekends we've had things on or one or another of us have been sick (I'm the sole carer to our three children - he does not see them). Given the timing and other circumstances, I have strong reason to believe he's doing this to confirm my whereabouts during the holidays, since he is immediately alerted to the outlet where the money is collected. Yes, coercive control and economic abuse was (is) a feature of our relationship. The rub is that he lives in the Middle East where they have no reciprocal agreement with the UK. So I'm well aware (as is he) that any court order can't be enforced. However he still has ties with the UK, and is highly likely to take me back to court for Child Matters, where we will pick back off where we left off before he withdrew his application.
So my question is, is it worth me making an application to court since he is at least in part breaching it, in terms of the standing order? Also I feel it is important to get a precise date in there, because the unpredictability really impacts me - I'm on a very low income and because of his non-disclosure in the original proceedings, the judge took him at face value that he was living in abject poverty in the Middle East as an expat, and ordered him to pay a low sum - which sadly I am very reliant on as I gave up my original career to care for our children, before the separation. Given how harsh the judge was for our final proceedings I'm really worried a judge will be very impatient and not really care about the manner and date the payments are made, because in the end he pays. Would really value some informed opinions on this, and also how I go about doing it - I was on Legal Aid before, but that's over now the proceedings are finished and I'm concerned about how much I already have to pay them when I sell the house - which is when my youngest goes to secondary school, and my share will be very difficult to find a suitable place for all 4 of us anywhere near the school area - great timing (not)! Thanks in advance.
