I would love somebody to be able to help out or shed some light on this one..grab a coffee..it's a biggy..an ABSOLUTE minefield!!!
My ex and I entered into a child support agreement as part of a property settlement 28months ago. Our solicitors signed the agreement and he was the one who suggested it and put the offer forward. My eldest went to live with him 1 year ago and he stopped paying child support to me ever since that day. I still have two kids who live with me. He has no contact with one and the other sees 5 nights a fortnight...much to DS detest. For the past 13 months ex has paid no child support, arrears have accrued and the CSA have stopped him leaving the country (Departure Prohibition Order). He refuses to work with the CSA to clear his debt. They gave him 14 days to sort his issue out before they commenced court proceedings...so what did he do...issued court proceedings against me to try and get out of his arrears and agreement. I have tried 7 times through my solicitor to come to an arrangement for the arrears but ex has never acknowledged attempts to sort this out. During all of this I found out he ceased being self employed (had been for 25 years and earnt over $100k each year) in favour of becoming employed by his...wait for it...girlfriend. She'd set up a shelf company and he works for her doing exactly the same job etc etc but is now paid $577pw gross..or so he claims. At court last week he turned up with a super specialised barrister (which would have cost him a fortune) and the judge is making us go to case conciliation (waste of time - he has never bothered before) so now I am supposed to negotiate with him when this was his own doing in the first place!! Back to court in October for a final hearing if nothing is agreed at conciliation. My current husband and I have been supporting the kids and because of this he has earnt more income to help out. We also have two children of our own and I look after them (20mths and 9 mths). He also pays child support for two other children. Trouble is because he has had to earn more to help with his step children and under the new legislation his child support has gone from $75pm to $581pm!!!! I don't know how we are sposed to afford this. I spoke to CSA and he can't do anything under the COA as the kids father is still living (albeit FIRE!!). In the mean time my husband is supporting all 6 children by himself (including 2 he is not legally obliged to support...however they need to eat). The CSA have been USELESS with all of this situation and all I am told is "yes, the system doesn't suit everyone, I'm not sure what you can do". As we can't afford to pay the increase in child support we too will have debt with the CSA. All this could have been avaided if my ex honoured his agreement. I am very worried the judge will discharge his arrears and discharge the agreement.........PLS HELP!!!!!
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