Diversion of income??

A question about : Diversion of income??

Hello

I'm new to forums so please forgive anything I do wrong, but I really need some advice.

I have 2 year old twins with my ex. Originally he paid maintenance through an arrangement between us, but after all the games and threats, I decided enough was enough and contacted CMS. They gave us the figure he had to pay and said they would do an annual review.

All was ok (ish) until this annual review in December, when they sent me a letter saying my monthly payments will be going from Ј694 to Ј828 a month! I was shocked as any contact we had had in the beginning of last year he claimed he never had a pay rise or bonus, which clearly he lied about. Please note though that I have not had any contact with my ex for months after he was violent, came wandering round my house in the middle of the night and now I'm having to find somewhere else to live just so he doesn't know where we are.

Then yesterday CMS send me a letter yesterday saying his income has gone down (this is less than a month after the letter saying his income has gone up) and state the new payments will be Ј639 a month! I called them up as although I totally appreciate I do receive a very good amount of child maintenance, I wanted to know why the sudden huge drop in what they were saying last month. I used to work at the same company as him and know they don't decrease salaries. CMS said that he has made pension contributions (he has never done before) The figures they sent me in December worked out that his salary was Ј67k, they are now saying the salary is Ј42k. Can he really bring his income down by Ј25k by putting into a pension to avoid paying maintanence. I asked the CMS and they said they need to look at the guidelines! To me this is diversion of income..??

I'm sorry this is like an essay. Please note I'm not some money grabber, or a bitter ex. I'm just trying to raise my children in a safe loving environment. I'm not having someone trying to spite my children. If you knew the things he had done and said, and the trouble he has caused you would know why there is no contact.

Thank you in advance x

Best answers:

• It is a generally accepted guide that to have a good pension in retirement, you should contribute a percentage of your income that is your age divided by 2. For example, at 30, you should contribute 15%, at 40 it should be 20% and at 50 it should be 25%. If he has never paid into a pension before, he may have some catching up to do.
  There are no hard numbers for what level of pension contribution would be considered diversion of income so all you can do is apply for an adjustment and see what comes of it.
• Thank you. Well he is 42, however the company he has worked for, for over 20 years contribute 12% themselves. I'm trying to get this sorted, as really don't like these stressful feelings floating around, as I know full well he has done this to spite the girls.
• If you knew the person in question, then you'd see that he wasn't being fair. He's gone from putting in minimal or no payments for pension (along with the 12% his employer automatically contribute) to a whopping 37% of his income. I would say this has been done to try and spite the girls through me, as I had made it clear to him I would never take him back.
  As I said on my original post, I appreciate I do receive a good amount of child support, however I cannot suddenly start putting 37% of my salary into a pension for MY retirement, as I have children to support TODAY - house, food, clothes, bills, car, petrol, activities etc etc. The man in question DOESN'T see the children, or spend time with them (his choice - didn't even buy them a gift for xmas) and lives with his mom.
  Thanks for everyones advice/comments, I have since spoken to a barrister, who feels I've got a very strong case for 'excessive pension contributions and diversion of income', so I'll see how it goes....
• It's not uncommon for a higher rate taxpayer to salary sacrifice to prevent the payment of higher rate tax.
  If Ј42k is enough income for him to live on then it would seem a sensible change to make. It does have the unfortunate knock on effect on the child maintenance you receive but you may find that this was not the primary reason for the salary drop.
• The reality is that he decided that what he was paying already was more than your twins needed and therefore there was a good chance that anything additional would go on yourself. He made the decision to spend that additional money on his future rather than your present.
  You could argue that your children do cost a fortune and therefore all his contributions would go on them with no direct benefits to you, but clearly he doesn't believe that and since he has the right to do what he decided to do, there is nothing you can do about it.
• With regard to allowing 37% the allowed my ex to put 44.5% before latest calculation of his income (salary and dividend) and approved that. I questioned the origin of the pension i.e from company and not from earnings but did not complain of diversion which I should of done in hindsight.
  The various amounts he has been assessed at for two children are Ј34 a week, then Ј90 a week (this lasted a month) then Ј50 a week and now Ј24 a week.
  I will say you get a very generous amount to help support your two children so he is being a very responsible father with regard to financial provision in my opinion. And pursuing him for diversion of income may not be the best option.
• Ј639 is a large amount - you are very lucky and sound like a bitter moneygrabber to me.