Ex lives abroad with new family...help

[Toastflake]

Hi all. My ex husband left me when i had just had our second son. He now lives abroad with a new family (including a 1 year old daughter who he had after leaving me). He has had sporadic contact with our two sons (5 and 2) since leaving - most recent visit was 7 months ago, was 6 months between visits prior to that. He says he can't afford to visit and now expects me to take the boys over to him, or let his parents take the eldest over for a long weekend (during term time). He also keeps reducing the amount of maintenance he is paying, with the latest reduction leaving me with very little for food and clothing for the boys once rent and bills have been paid.
Anyone in similar position able to offer advice? Csa won't help as he is non UK resident/non UK employee. I also cannot get a solicitor due to financial reasons.

[Openlaw15]

Re: Ex lives abroad with new family...help

Hi all. My ex husband left me when i had just had our second son. He now lives abroad with a new family (including a 1 year old daughter who he had after leaving me). He has had sporadic contact with our two sons (5 and 2) since leaving - most recent visit was 7 months ago, was 6 months between visits prior to that. He says he can't afford to visit and now expects me to take the boys over to him, or let his parents take the eldest over for a long weekend (during term time). He also keeps reducing the amount of maintenance he is paying, with the latest reduction leaving me with very little for food and clothing for the boys once rent and bills have been paid.
Anyone in similar position able to offer advice? Csa won't help as he is non UK resident/non UK employee. I also cannot get a solicitor due to financial reasons.

Hello Toastflake

Did your ex-husband and yourself divorce in England or Wales? Did he leave you to live in another country (outside the UK) during your marriage, or during divorce, or after the divorce? UK law may still apply for the CSA or European Union rules if the country he's living in now is in the EU. It is called child support agency so the law potentially is where the children were born or affected and not the father necessarily. How long has he been living in this other country? Was your husband born in this country or was he foreign national who acquired UK residence status? Are you British and were you born in either England or Wales? Where were the children born, ie in England or Wales? How old were the children when they moved to another country? Who was granted custody of the children, how many children, at what age were they during the custody hearing? Was it a joint custody or was your ex husband granted full custody?

I note he is paying maintenance is this an agreement through the divorce or did he volunteer to do this? Has the amount of maintenance been regular, or fixed at a certain amount? How long ago were you divorced?

[Toastflake]

Re: Ex lives abroad with new family...help

Hi, we divorced in Scotland. I have been in touch with the csa/cms and a claim was raised but they stopped it because he is non UK resident/non UK employee. He has lived in Spain since July 2014, the children were 4 and 2 months when he left.
There is no custody agreement in place but I am the sole carer of the boys as noted in our divorce petition. We divorced in March this year.
The maintenance has been a private agreement between us and has been reduced on several occasions due to him having pay cuts (no proof has been supplied and from what I have been told, I just have to take his word for it)

[Openlaw15]

Re: Ex lives abroad with new family...help

Hi, we divorced in Scotland. I have been in touch with the csa/cms and a claim was raised but they stopped it because he is non UK resident/non UK employee. He has lived in Spain since July 2014, the children were 4 and 2 months when he left.
There is no custody agreement in place but I am the sole carer of the boys as noted in our divorce petition. We divorced in March this year.
The maintenance has been a private agreement between us and has been reduced on several occasions due to him having pay cuts (no proof has been supplied and from what I have been told, I just have to take his word for it)

Ok, the law applies to habitual resident tests but if you husband is out of the country, the CSA claim they don't have to pay it out. However there are complex rules developed through case law. In order for me to help you, you need to answer my questions though. Thanks.

You never answered my questions:

"Was your husband born in this country or was he foreign national who acquired UK residence status? Are you British and were you born in either England or Wales? Where were the children born, ie in England or Wales? How old were the children when they moved to another country?"

Were you born in Spain, or was your husband born in Spain, or were your children born in Spain? Or does any other country apply? How long have you and your husband prior to your divorce been living in Scotland?

[Toastflake]

Re: Ex lives abroad with new family...help

Both myself and ex are British (Scottish). He moved to Spain and acquired Spanish residency. The children were born in Scotland. Prior to divorce we were both British residents from birth.