Mum claims ex owns a Porsche but 'manipulates' income to avoid paying child support

Published date31 May 2021
Publication titleDaily Star: Web Edition Articles (England)
The judge rules in favour of Kirstie Broom, from Beeford in East Yorkshire, in a dispute over how much her ex, Kevin Walker, paid.

The couple split five years ago, but Kirstie went to a tribunal this year after he switched the status of his business from sole trader to a limited company.

This meant his salary was reduced from £45,000 to just over £15,000 even though his profits grew by £13,000.

The move meant the Child Maintenance Service CMS required him to pay just £44 a week towards his two children who live with their mum.

That slashed 80% off what he was initially told to pay, reports HullLive.

Kirstie said: “My ex partner owns a £400,000 house, has motorbikes, a Porsche Boxster, quad bikes, a rowing boat for his lake, and drives a 4x4 Mercedes Benz with private plates on.

"He changed his company from sole trader to hide his income, he'd always threatened to do it.

“He doesn't see it as paying for the children, he sees it as paying me, and he wants to see me struggle."

A judge concluded that Mr Walker had "manipulated" his income, while CMS calculated his arrears to be more than £20,000.

Kevin, who owns the Stay Smart landscaping business, changed the status of his business in 2019, which reduced his payments to his three children, now aged 12, 10 and seven.

This meant that where he was paying £286 a week before he then only needed to pay £44.

Kirstie appealed this amount in a hearing in January.

Tribunal Judge Phillip Barber, in summarising his findings, stated: "Mr Walker gave evidence at the hearing.

"It is relevant to record that during the course of giving evidence Mr Walker was prone to angry and irrelevant outbursts when questioned touched upon the sensitive issue of his income and expenditure.

"He was also prone to peppering his evidence with bluster and at times it was difficult to get any sense from him."

The judge's findings continued: "At the hearing Mr Walker told us that he formed the limited company as his business under the sole proprietorship 'was going downhill' and that he was advised a limited company would help.

"However, the accounts indicate that Mr Walker's business had improved between 2018 and 2019 and had made £13,000 more profit from one year to the next."

He continued: "When asked about this, he told that 'he does not know' and is a 'simple person' who does not understand these things.

"We do not accept that there were any problems with his business and in our view, we do not accept that he incorporated due to a reduction...

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