Hiding Or Postponing Income During Separation Proceedings

[SUDBURY]

Hello, My Ex is a small business owner and heads up the Irish operations of his company (he founded the company but has taken on some partners since start-up of business). His company has operations in Ireland and abroad. He has <50 staff in Ireland, company seems viable and is still employing. However he has advised me that he and his board have decided that it is no longer possible to "employ him", and thus he can't afford to pay much maintenance for our children. He is still company founder and still on the board of directors as a non executive director.

I believe that this is a tactic and that he's still very much employed, but perhaps he negotiated with his co-board members that he postpones his salary for a period of time (ie until our separation proceedings are complete), and then he will probably get back-pay. Or I wonder if he is somehow able to get his salary paid through one of the foreign subsidiaries (is this possible?) and somehow it won't show up on any Irish bank statements and I'd have no visibility of it? He is still the company founder, and still on their board of directors for the Irish company and for the foreign ones, that much I do know, and the company still is operating and employing people.

Can anybody give me any advice on how to get valid information on what's going on? Could it be possible for him (an Irish national) to get a salary paid through his USA (or UK) subsidiary, and thus I would have no visibility of it? Or, if he has decided to (as a bogus move) make himself redundant until separation proceedings are complete, and then gets "re-employed" and back on salary, how could I get proper info on this? Unfortunately, there is no trust between us, and he always did say to me that he'd make himself redundant before he'd ever pay a penny of maintenanace, so him making himself "redundant" wasn't a surprise. However given the economic climate, this appears plausable.
Any advice, I'd very much appreciate it, I don't know where to start.
Thank you.
Sudbury.

 

[MOB]

Get a solicitor. Get the maintenance paid on foot of a court order. Get full disclosure of assets and income as part of this process. There is no real short cut here - just do it by the book and make sure that your solicitor is in it for the long haul.

Do, however, take on board that a drop in living standards is an almost inevitable consequence of separation.

 

[Thirsty]

You should also consider employing a forensic accountant.