Ex not paying CPI on maintenance payments

I had to go through a final hearing with my ex 3 years ago. I am in my mid fifties with a much lower income than him and no pension. I have since been supporting my adult children post university in the hunt for work etc.
During the divorce procedure, he developed a habit of cutting interim maintenance by a few hundred. The Judge rapped his knuckles for that and he had to pay it back which he did.
My spousal maintenance which he calls disability allowance has been reduced this year inline with our court order. He has ignored my request to add on the consumer price index amount (about £35 a month) and pays me the amount as specified by the court order. I know that this is a small transgression in the grand scheme of things but it will make a difference over the period to come and I'm just wondering what/ if I can do anything about it.

Quite simply, if the Court ordered that the payments should rise in line with inflation, and he hasn't added on the inflation allowance, he is in breach of the order and you can, if necessary, apply for enforcement.

LMM

Thank you Mike. I think I will go down this route. I think I can find out how to apply for enforcement on wiki. I will send him a letter first and wait until March.

stemginger wrote:

My spousal maintenance which he calls disability allowance has been reduced this year inline with our court order. He has ignored my request to add on the consumer price index amount (about £35 a month) and pays me the amount as specified by the court order.

Does the Court Order state that payments are to be increased in line with CPI or is this something you have requested of him?

Your post reads as if the Court Order planned for the payments to go down at this stage and that he has followed this part?

There is an 'annual variation in periodical payments' clause in the court order which specifies that the change in payments shall be the percentage increase, if any, between the consumer prices index during the most recent 12 month period preceding the variation date.

He did pay the increase last year. It does raise an interesting question though - when spousal maintenance reduces as per the court order, should one add interest from the point at which the order was written. Lets say 3 years ago the Judge decreed that 3 years on spousal maintenance would drop to £300 monthly. £300 three years later is worth less due to inflation. What should the starting point be?

I can see how using the last 12 months works when the figure remains the same but there is a potential loss when the original figure changes. The spousal maintenance in the court order further reduces in 3 years time. Then the starting point will be 5 years after the original court order.