Sbonnett76 Posted August 6, 2016 Share Posted August 6, 2016 Hi there, My friend and her husband emigrated to Sydney in June 2014 with their two young children. Sadly, their marriage has fallen apart and my friend has returned to the UK with the kids. Her estranged husband didn't want to come back and has remained in Australia. He had pretty much refused to pay her any child maintenance, claiming he can't afford it. She is working full time and both kids are in school full time, but having just had her child benefits cut by about £800 a month, she's at breaking point. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of whether she's entitled to push him for child maintenance with him outside of the country? Are there any laws from the Oz side that could protect her? Any help would be appreciated. It's heartbreaking seeing her go through this. Many thanks in advance. Xxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perthbum Posted August 6, 2016 Share Posted August 6, 2016 cut by £800 a month? what was she on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulip1 Posted August 6, 2016 Share Posted August 6, 2016 As above, cut by £800pm? Can only assume this is a typo, if you were working full time you may well get a bit of child tax credits, subject to salary but it wouldn't be £800pm let alone cut by that amount. Probably best your friend speak to a solicitor or the Csa helpline. I expect he would have to pay something although I know absent parents can 'offset' a fair bit by saying he needs a certain amount to maintain a relationship with his kids ie. For him to fly to see them and for him to pay for them to fly to him. I believe it's seen as reasonable by the courts that an absent parent has funds to maintain a relationship with his kids and if one parent takes them to the other side of the world then the other parent bares additional costs in seeing them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bungo Posted August 6, 2016 Share Posted August 6, 2016 I am also pretty stunned that a parent in full time work was even receiving £800 in benefits never mind having that cut! I think she needs to expect that she will not receive anything from the overseas spouse and plan accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight7 Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 He is not seeing his children though- she is lucky he didn't contest this really. Maybe better not to rock the boat from that point of view? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robfromdublin Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 Enforcing child maintenance from abroad is going to be very difficult I would have thought. She should definitely find out why she's been cut 800GBP a month though! That is the bigger issue. Unless of course it was a typo as mentioned above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Racmac Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 Child maintenance service have jurisdiction over the children so she can make a claim as she would normally. Enforcement will clearly be more difficult but it is possible, be warned however that CMS are absolutely useless and it will be a battle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deenickolly Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 Hi there, My friend and her husband emigrated to Sydney in June 2014 with their two young children. Sadly, their marriage has fallen apart and my friend has returned to the UK with the kids. Her estranged husband didn't want to come back and has remained in Australia. He had pretty much refused to pay her any child maintenance, claiming he can't afford it. She is working full time and both kids are in school full time, but having just had her child benefits cut by about £800 a month, she's at breaking point. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of whether she's entitled to push him for child maintenance with him outside of the country? Are there any laws from the Oz side that could protect her? Any help would be appreciated. It's heartbreaking seeing her go through this. Many thanks in advance. Xxx She was lucky to have been allowed to take the children out of oz without his consent! I have just taken my husband to court to take my son back to oz, luckily for me he was happy for us to go and signed it off as long as we stay in contact and visit every year. As for CSA, no she cant get anything, I wont get a penny and i dont want to either. Ive been allowed to go back to oz with my son so i am just thankful for that. If she was residing in oz with the kids and left and took them to the UK technically she has taken them without consent. I would advise she gets a solicitor ASAP. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy1 Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 She was lucky to have been allowed to take the children out of oz without his consent! I have just taken my husband to court to take my son back to oz, luckily for me he was happy for us to go and signed it off as long as we stay in contact and visit every year. As for CSA, no she cant get anything, I wont get a penny and i dont want to either. Ive been allowed to go back to oz with my son so i am just thankful for that. If she was residing in oz with the kids and left and took them to the UK technically she has taken them without consent. I would advise she gets a solicitor ASAP. Good luck You have made a huge assumption there that she has taken the kids without consent. If I missed that part then please do point it out. If he gave consent, then there is no 'technically' about it. He should pay child support (it is enforceable), however, the amount would most likely take into account the expense of incurred by him to visit them in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deenickolly Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 from my experience ive literally just finished going through we had to attend court, which is where the financial matters we also signed off, i was not allowed to leave the country without the papers signed, i could have i guess and I dont doubt that he would ever have actually done anything I just didnt want to chance a few years later him having a change of heart. I have spoken with CSA and a solicitor and both have stated that CSA have no control over it for me, but then I am going to oz and he is in UK, so Im taking my son out of the UK. It is really complex the whole thing I just thing for her own peice of mind she would benifit from legal advise and so so much came up on me I had no idea about, and even if she has his verbal say so that she could return, there is nothing stopping him changing her mind and orddering therm back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Racmac Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 She was lucky to have been allowed to take the children out of oz without his consent! I have just taken my husband to court to take my son back to oz, luckily for me he was happy for us to go and signed it off as long as we stay in contact and visit every year. As for CSA, no she cant get anything, I wont get a penny and i dont want to either. Ive been allowed to go back to oz with my son so i am just thankful for that. If she was residing in oz with the kids and left and took them to the UK technically she has taken them without consent. I would advise she gets a solicitor ASAP. Good luck It doesn't suggest anywhere that she removed the children without his consent and why should she be grateful they are his bloody kids and he has a legal and moral responsibility to financially support them. As as I said above the cms do have jurisdiction of the children of they are in uk and she should make her application. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deenickolly Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 Im not suggesting she should be grateful at all, maybe i have not worded it very well what I was trying to say, my main point is she should get legal advise from my experience I would not want her to find that she has done something wrong and then end up with a bitter ex husband who changes his mind on the children being taken. Your right she should get money, as should I, but I dont and i guess been struggling along now for so long I am used to it, although was hard to start with which is probably what she is struggling with now, the changes in finances is hard, I was just saying from my experience I have not and will not get anything, I have to pay the costs of me and my son flying back every year for him to see he child. Morally yes he should support them, unfotunately not all people do it and it is not easy, for me was impossible to actually get any help at all. The only saving grace for me was my court fees were free and I got some of my solicitors bill refunded back to me as I left my husband due to domestic violence and got legal aid. Im not saying she did it without his consent, I left and took my child after been attacked, I didnt realise I was doing anything wrong I just got a flight back to the UK because I was scared and i didnt know what to do, luckily for me my ex also returned a few months later as had he have decided down the line he didnt want his son in the UK (although we are all from the UK) legally we were living in OZ and I could have got into trouble. If she has separated it is hard, you dont always think of everything and I was trying to point out that actually she may want to see a solicitor for advise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy1 Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 Im not suggesting she should be grateful at all, maybe i have not worded it very well what I was trying to say, my main point is she should get legal advise from my experience I would not want her to find that she has done something wrong and then end up with a bitter ex husband who changes his mind on the children being taken. Your right she should get money, as should I, but I dont and i guess been struggling along now for so long I am used to it, although was hard to start with which is probably what she is struggling with now, the changes in finances is hard, I was just saying from my experience I have not and will not get anything, I have to pay the costs of me and my son flying back every year for him to see he child. Morally yes he should support them, unfotunately not all people do it and it is not easy, for me was impossible to actually get any help at all. The only saving grace for me was my court fees were free and I got some of my solicitors bill refunded back to me as I left my husband due to domestic violence and got legal aid. Im not saying she did it without his consent, I left and took my child after been attacked, I didnt realise I was doing anything wrong I just got a flight back to the UK because I was scared and i didnt know what to do, luckily for me my ex also returned a few months later as had he have decided down the line he didnt want his son in the UK (although we are all from the UK) legally we were living in OZ and I could have got into trouble. If she has separated it is hard, you dont always think of everything and I was trying to point out that actually she may want to see a solicitor for advise. Ah ok, I understand. I have not had proper child support for years (the occasional enforcement occurred, but that's it) and do not want it now. I escaped a nasty situation and that is enough for me. Good luck, I think we may have something in common x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.