Unpaid Child Maintenance

I have a Consent Order detailing child maintenance. Ex has not paid maintenance since 2010 citing unemployment and poverty. I have now been made aware that he owns various properties which he has liquidated and spent the income in secret. Can I get the back dated maintenance paid?

If be has not complied with the court order you can apply for enforcement. He cannot just stop paying although after a year he could have asked for s csa assessment.

Since he has not contacted the CSA or applied for a variation of payment will I be able to enforce the payment of all the outstanding maintenance? I know he will use his unemployment status as his defence but I know that he has assets.Can I enforce their sale even he has purchased them in a partnership? What happens if he still refuses to pay the maintenance?

I think you would need to take legal advice. The delay in taking action when you have a court order that has been breached may be an issue.

He can plead poverty but the fact is that he has breached an order of the court. He should not just have stopped paying. If he is ordered to pay arrears he will have to find the money. If he does not, he could end up with a custodial sentence and still owe the money. AFAIK a judge cannot order the sale of assets owned with another party.

Was the order just for child maintenance or did it involve sm as well? Has he complied with the rest of the consent order?

Hadenoughnow

No he has not complied with all of the consent order. I am in the process of going through the enforcement of the other aspects.

I order was only for cm.

I am currently in the middle of enforcing an sm order which has never been paid, and I am now at the stage where ex has been summonsed back to court next Friday for a custodial sentence, either immediate or suspended. He is now, as of tomorrow, one year in arrears but i started the enforcement when he was four months behind. I am aware that to enforce arrears of more than twelve months, you need special permission from the court. It may help if you tell the court that you were told that he had no job or means of payment, and have taken that on trust, but have now become aware that he does have assets and that it would have been possible for him to pay. He should have applied to the court for a variance any way, but has not done so, so the court may allow you to stretch the enforcement period. I would act as quickly as possible though or it could be said that you don''t need the payments and it may look as if you aren''t bothered about chasing it up even though you have new information.

Good luck