Breaking a consent order
Discussion
A friend of mine is now divorced and has a consent order granted saying the ex husband will pay x amount for the children's maintenance. This was worked out on the basis she was the main carer for her two children, but now they have moved in with the dad after a minor conflict at home (as in stroppy teenagers) . He is now refusing to pay any maintenance and therefore breaks the consent order. Leaving stroppy kids out of this for the moment who change sides at a whim- what is the legal situation about altering a consent order due to change of circumstances? Far as I can see the original order has to remain in place for a year before it re evaluated? Can a new consent order be raised to over ride the first one if he is prepared to go back to court?
hashtag said:
A maintenance order only last for 12 minths if I recall.
It would need to go back to court for a new order. Difficult if they no longer live with the mother, for the the judge to make an award I would have thought
I don't think that is how it works. A maintenance order can even be for life.It would need to go back to court for a new order. Difficult if they no longer live with the mother, for the the judge to make an award I would have thought
If you have a 'clean break' order then it is very difficult, other than in cases of non-disclosure or fraud, to change it.
If you have an order that includes maintenance then the level of maintenance can be varied, but you'd have to go to court.
It isn't uncommon for maintenance of £1 to be included, just so that they can come back later to raid the piggy bank after they've spent all their money on clothes, shoes and makeup.
I was lucky, I got a clean break with no maintenance.
spookly said:
hashtag said:
A maintenance order only last for 12 minths if I recall.
It would need to go back to court for a new order. Difficult if they no longer live with the mother, for the the judge to make an award I would have thought
I don't think that is how it works. A maintenance order can even be for life.It would need to go back to court for a new order. Difficult if they no longer live with the mother, for the the judge to make an award I would have thought
If you have a 'clean break' order then it is very difficult, other than in cases of non-disclosure or fraud, to change it.
If you have an order that includes maintenance then the level of maintenance can be varied, but you'd have to go to court.
It isn't uncommon for maintenance of £1 to be included, just so that they can come back later to raid the piggy bank after they've spent all their money on clothes, shoes and makeup.
I was lucky, I got a clean break with no maintenance.
The OP should get professional advise just to be sure!
Whoever has residency can claim Child Benefit from the govt and maintenance from the other parent (via CMS if necessary).
A significant change in circumstances like the one detailed in the OP would be enough to take the initial agreement back to court or it could reach the ridiculous situation where the respective parents are moving money from one bank account to another every month.
A significant change in circumstances like the one detailed in the OP would be enough to take the initial agreement back to court or it could reach the ridiculous situation where the respective parents are moving money from one bank account to another every month.
seek professional advice on this.
IANAL.
it depends on what the consent order and entire divorce settlement indicated. When people say they have a clean break, thats typically from the OH and not the children. If the maintenance was solely for the children with no payments to the OH (a £1 payment is still an obligation and runs the risk of being revisited at some point) then its going to be very difficult for the OH to argue they need money for the children, unless the OH is caring for them part of the time and/or is without income.
IANAL.
it depends on what the consent order and entire divorce settlement indicated. When people say they have a clean break, thats typically from the OH and not the children. If the maintenance was solely for the children with no payments to the OH (a £1 payment is still an obligation and runs the risk of being revisited at some point) then its going to be very difficult for the OH to argue they need money for the children, unless the OH is caring for them part of the time and/or is without income.
He should probably wait and get a feel for how long the new living arrangement realistically stands to last, before changing anything. It might only last a few weeks before they go back to their mothers. It would be silly to make sweeping changes and risk being held in breach of the consent order just because teens fancy moving between parents on a whim. A reasonable thing to do (I think) would be to talk to the ex, continue making the maintenance payments on schedule but try and secure her agreement to give something back or accept a reduction in respect of their living costs, as an interim measure. Be seen to be as reasonable as possible and appreciate that if she is in any way responsible she has probably structured her own living / working / financial arrangements around the kids and just cutting the payments may destabilise her. If it really does transpire that its a long-lasting arrangement then he will be able to apply for their child benefit and potentially claim maintenance from the mother, but me mindful it takes 5-8 weeks to get a move a child benefit claim from one parent to another and when I did so in a similar circumstances, it was only paid for a few months until we were reversing the process.
Essentially, don't do anything erratic or sudden. I would also speak to my solicitor.
Essentially, don't do anything erratic or sudden. I would also speak to my solicitor.
As I now understand it:
So a consent order is agreed with the two parties and stamped and quite simply if you break it you risk contempt of court. If things change you can go back to court and agree a new consent order- by its nature you both have to agree. If you cant agree it goes to court for a Judge to decide.
In terms of the woman wanting to keep the maintenance payments without the children, she has a large house with the associated running costs to house the children, and so some costs are fixed at least in the short term, with or without the children at home. She has offered the guy in question a very good part of the money back on a month by month basis, also considering should the children decide Dads no fun after all and want to come home, which seems fair enough. This way he does not break the consent order, and still gets his additional running costs back. To put this in perspective she has managed to get a £20k job to hold her head above water after he left , and hes earning over £70k, so I don't feel sorry for him. Unfortunately Hes trying to beat her up saying hes going to get the CSA involved and they will extract money from her, but they wont touch it unless the consent order is a year or more old- so its a complete bluff, and in my eyes hes just being a bully. If she sells the house, and moves into a single bed flat to match the income, nether he or the children have a get out clause and he will have to deal with them - --guy in his mid fifties living with two hormonal teenage girls- sounds like a match made in heaven.......
So a consent order is agreed with the two parties and stamped and quite simply if you break it you risk contempt of court. If things change you can go back to court and agree a new consent order- by its nature you both have to agree. If you cant agree it goes to court for a Judge to decide.
In terms of the woman wanting to keep the maintenance payments without the children, she has a large house with the associated running costs to house the children, and so some costs are fixed at least in the short term, with or without the children at home. She has offered the guy in question a very good part of the money back on a month by month basis, also considering should the children decide Dads no fun after all and want to come home, which seems fair enough. This way he does not break the consent order, and still gets his additional running costs back. To put this in perspective she has managed to get a £20k job to hold her head above water after he left , and hes earning over £70k, so I don't feel sorry for him. Unfortunately Hes trying to beat her up saying hes going to get the CSA involved and they will extract money from her, but they wont touch it unless the consent order is a year or more old- so its a complete bluff, and in my eyes hes just being a bully. If she sells the house, and moves into a single bed flat to match the income, nether he or the children have a get out clause and he will have to deal with them - --guy in his mid fifties living with two hormonal teenage girls- sounds like a match made in heaven.......
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