Where do I stand: Home rights Family Law Act ....

[Farmer Jones]

This now seems to have taken a turn for the worse.

I came home from work today to find an envelope from the DWP ~ Child Maintenance Service ~ demanding I phone them within 14 days or else.
I am completing Form A because my former wife refused to engage in mediation, on two separate occasions. Whilst I agree that I pay child maintenance, and indeed wish to do so, I currently cannot afford is as I am paying the mortgage on the former home and paying my own accommodation costs. I am spending nearly 60% of my income on mortgage & rent. I have an email trail indicating that she agreed to me paying the mortgage in lieu of maintenance for the time being.

I now face a situation where the CMS has gotten involved and if I pay them the maintenance, then I cannot pay the mortgage. Which means the house will go into a repossession situation (I am desperately holding repossession at the moment). So my former wife may get maintenance, but won't have anywhere to live, with our son.

Can somebody advice what I can do..? I am at my wits end with all of this, it been going on for two years after I lost my business and was out of work for 6 or so months.

What does "initial effective date" mean ?

Please help.

[Peridot]

Has your ex contacted them then? Unfortunately child maintenance is essentially separate from any financial settlement you agree with her. Have you contacted her to ask why CSA equivalent would be contacting you when you have the email evidence that this had been agreed to ensure the property is not repossessed until you've sorted the finances from the marriage?

You need to contact the DWP but I suggest you clarify with your ex in the first instance what contact she has had and also what she believes the agreement was with regard to payment.

In what context initial effective date. Where has this been indicated? If you could provide a little more info we may be able to help.

[Farmer Jones]

Hi
Communication with my ex is very difficult, most of the time she refuses to communicate.

I have written two emails to her, pointing out the situation and the agreement regarding maintenance until the house is sold.
So far I have not received a reply.

I have no idea why the DWP / Child Maintenance Service (CMS) have become involved. My ex has her own business and it seems to be doing very well.

We tried mediation twice: she stormed out the first time, and refused to attend the second and I understand that the Child Maintenance Service don't get involved if there is a Family Agreement in place. I guess my ex hasn't told them about the agreement we have. The person I spoke to at the CMS wasn't interested.

My worry is that the house will get repossessed.

At the bottom of the letter the "initial effective date" is 21 October. Apparently that is the date the claim is effective from....my other worry is the word "initial". If they decide to back date a claim, that will cost me a massive amount of money which I havn't got.

[Farmer Jones]

I have completed Form A and will submit the next time I get paid. I am working on my Form E at the moment. In the mean time my former wife has gotten in touch with the CMS (Child Maintenance Service) and they have requested payslips etc. I have supplied these. I have been paying the mortgage on the property since I left (nearly 2 years ago) and have it in writing that I pay the mortgage in lieu of Child Maintenance until the house is sold. It now seems that she wants the mortgage paid AND child maintenance. I cannot afford to pay both.

I have put this to her, and pointed out that if she forces me to pay her Child Maintenance and she doesn't pay it into the mortgage account then we will loose the house as it will be repossessed. (A rough calculation indicates the Child Maintenance will be around 40% of the mortgage). This will make her homeless, and I may as well go bankrupt as I won;t have anything left.

She has also told the CMS that I am self employed, and earn £££. I have my payslips from my employer that indicates I am on PAYE only and thats my sole income.

I know that I will still have to pay maintenance if I go bankrupt thats fine, I'll actually be better off after I come out of the period of bankruptcy.

Help.

[2222]

I saw your other post about HMRC and the tax specialist. I did wonder whether this was all getting on top of you and you should consider bankruptcy. As you are aware, some debts are extinguished by bankruptcy, whilst some continue. It's worth checking that out carefully in your circumstances.

This is a starting point. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/de...ruptcy-covers/

[atkinsonlaw]

Hi there,

I am a paralegal, and I am a family law specialist.

You are best off doing the following:

1. Try to arrange mediation with your wife through the mediation service

2. Go through the process of ancillary relief (The Court Process) - You will need to complete a Form E which is 26 pages long and is a forensic account of your assets and finances. The form would be lodged at Court and they court will write to her an ask her to submit a Form E as well.

3. You can get someone like me, a solicitor or a barrister to write a legal letter to her.

Whatever happens the matter needs to be sorted out legally. You could go down the route of a Consent Order but frankly you would be better off doing a full ancillary relief case to get it sorted out.