Halting maintenance payments for non compliance of court orders

[Smowball]

Another AB'er(cazzz) said she thought she had heard somewhere that they can now sometimes halt maintance payments to the mother if she continually breaks court orders/contact orders. Does anybody have any info at all on this??

[Mrsspagnoli57]

Best thing you can do is check with Child Support Agency. They should be able to give you the correct info-what people tell you isn't always correct and its best not falling foul of the CSA-(I speak from experience) Good luck

[Smowball]

Yes, good point - thanks for that : )

[ummmm]

I would stop the payments and worry about the consequences later.

[tonyav]

Barmaid is your girl, for this one I think Smow.

[bednobs]

Hi Smow, i would be very surprised if this is the case and would caution against it for a couple of reasons
1) children ALWAYS need maintaining - whether they see the non custodial parent or not, they will always eat, need clothes and need to be housed!
2) If the girl really doesn't want to see her dad, then she is effectively being "punished" for that - not a great way to maintain a relationship or to keep the communication open
3) It is just another stick with which to beat your husband with and another reason for the mum to drip poison in the ear of the daughter (You make your husband sound like a right arse sometimes - is it possible the girl actually doesn't want to see him?)
4) Children should not be disadvantaged by their parents splitting up - if she has to accept a lesser lifestyle because there are no maintenance payments (ie no school trips, no after school activities because the mum cant afford them) Then in my opinion your husband has lost sight of the fact that his daughter is the most important thing in this whole situation
4)

[Barmaid]

Unfortunately, I don't "do" family law. However, from personal experience, the CSA payments are NOT connected to contact. The NRP (non resident parent) has to continue making payments to the PWC (Parent with care) irrespective of contact.

[ojread2]

why, out of interest umm, would you stop payments?

I agree with Bednobs, never stop maintaining your child just because the parent with custody is being an a**h**e

[ummmm]

Because if the payments stop some people suddenly want to negotiate.

I managed to bring up my kids for years without maintenance payments from their father...and I still let him see them.

If I remember correctly the person in question has remarried so it's not like the child will starve.

[ojread2]

If they are remarried and payments do stop, they aren't going to be too bothered are they?

I think that is exactly what the parent wants to happen

[ojread2]

Plus, if payments do stop, as Bednobs says, it will be more ammunition for drip feeding nastiness into the childs ear

Sadly as the absent one you must do everything you can to leave a paper trail of evidence that you did try to do something or you will never be believed by the child that you tried

[ummmm]

He has a bank account for his daughter.

[ladybirder]

Well I think the daughter will come to resent her mother's actions when she's older and independent. This is actually what happened with my oldest two grandchildren when my son and his wide split up. She did everything she could to stop my son seeing his children and oh boy don't think children don't realise what's going on. My eldest GC has told me she hated what her mother did and thought she was wrong. Kids aren't daft.

[ojread2]

If that's true that child is going to have a nice healthy start to college or uni life, isn't she

[ojread2]

I agree ladybirder - believe me, been there and done it.
Because I dont have a paper trail of what I did, my eldest daughter believed everything her father told her about me, mostly a pack of lies but hey, I can;t prove he didnt pay me any money for her, Cant prove he never went to court, cant prove he did nothing he said he was going to for her, so guess who is paying dividends for it? And now he's dead there is no chance she will ever know the truth

[Smowball]

Hi guys!
oo
Ok, yes ex has re married a very wealthy man. She is now trying and succeeding to stop every contact. Hubbie is just desperate and doesnt know what else to do. He pays money every month but as you say, she doesnt need it, but he will still continue. Its just a right mess.

[tonywiltshire]

Since the end of 2008 a warning notice has been fixed to contact orders to the resident parent and a persistently non-compliant party could eventually find themselves sentenced to custody but I have never heard of this causing maintenance payments to be reduced.

[Smowball]

Hi Tony, thanks for replying.He has an excellent solicitor, and has been through the courts for 8 years now, but she just ignores every single order. Last time he went back was about 2 months ago and the judge was very angry with her and said if he saw her again he would involve Social services, but she has continued to block contact. its just horrendous.

[ladybirder]

So is he going back to see his solicitor over this latest breach Smow?

[tonywiltshire]

If the contact order was issued 8 years ago it probably did not have a warning notice attached. The courts are becoming more robust with the resident parent who continually has a reason to block the contact order, they are not well, they are out, they are visiting friends, they are with their other grand parents who are not well, they do not want to see you etc, are all frequently heard. It is also not unknown for the resident parent to paint a very black and unfair picture of the non-resident parent.
(I do not say this will happen only that it has been known to happen)
If his current solicitor agrees persistence will pay, every time a contact order is blocked report it to the court.

[Smowball]

Sorry, new contact order was drawn up 2 months ago, actually adding EXTRA contact.