Child Maintenance Question(s)

[Mrs.Wifey]

Hi

Lately, I've been reading up on the CSA as much as possible, both here and in other sites, and I've yet to really have my questions satisified. Let me explain:

My husband has children from a previous marriage and pays maintenance via standing order weekly. The amount was agreed between them and her solicitor.

Before this was arranged, the CSA got involved as his ex-wife is on benefits and one thing I DID discover is that CSA automatically get involved when the parent-with-child is on benefits. My husband filled in the forms and sent them off and the form said that it would take about 6 weeks to process and advised making payments in the meantime so that arrears would not accrue. He started taking cash payments and got handwritten, signed "receipts" from her showing the amount, what it was for, etc. This was consistently done for about 2 years, then they seemed to become lax and a few months passed without written receipts (although the money was paid). That was when they decided to set up a standing order, once a week, and it has been that way since.

Now, after he filled in the forms to the CSA and sent them in, nothing was ever heard from them again. We lived at that address for 9-10 months after the forms were sent to them and stayed in the immediate area for quite some time. It's 4 years on, and still never a word, and after some of the stuff I've been reading I find that scary rather than comforting.

His ex-wife has always been content with the amount and it was never calculated using the current formulas. She named a sum, he agreed, and that was it.

What is bothering me is that I've read in a few different places that voluntary maintenance agreements are basically Not Allowed when the PWC is on benefits, despite that this may be changing this year with the new CSA make-over. I am wondering, is my husband 1, 2, 10 years down the line going to receive some sort of liability order against him for thousands of pounds of arrears? Or am I wrong in that private maintenance arrangments should stand and the CSA has to butt out? My husband is of the idea that since the payment was arranged through them and her solicitor that everything will be ok, and I thought that too, but lately I'm seriously doubting that!

Any insights will be greatly appreciated....if there are any

[honey5]

you'll find that as long as they are happy with the arrangements for payment between themselves the CSA wont take any interest at all, but............. he must always keep proof of payment, otherwise yes she could become difficult and refuse to acknowledge they have been made.

honey x

[Mrs.Wifey]

Thank you for that Luckily, the standing order makes for good record-keeping. And we have MOST of the receipts, thank God!

[raydetinu]

was the agreed maitenance payments ratified by the court during he divorce settlement? or was it just mentioned that it was to be agreed betwen the parties! check final FDR judgement from the court.

[1stlifeline]

Sorry, dont want to alarm you but with is it was the opposite. other half and his ex agreed a sum 10 years ago and payments were paid into her bank and reciepts kept. 3 years ago she went on benefits and the CSA got involved. In spite of her telling them that she had been paid regularly and him having reciepts they still intervened. He was made told to send the reciepts to the CSA and they assessed what he should have paid. It turned out that he had, according to thieir assessment underpaid by £180. Even though his ex said he had never missed a payment and that he had also paid for things such as washing machine. tv etc for her since the split, he still had to pay the £180. The daft thing was that she didnt see a penny of it, t all went direct to the CSA. Seems they are a law unto themselves. Keep every receipt for every penny.

[Mrs.Wifey]

Originally Posted by raydetinu

was the agreed maitenance payments ratified by the court during he divorce settlement? or was it just mentioned that it was to be agreed betwen the parties! check final FDR judgement from the court.

I'm 99% sure that it was just mentioned to be agreed between the parties. The ex-wife told her solicitor what she wanted in terms of £££ and the solicitor sent a letter outlining it. My husband agreed to it and it's been that way since.

[Mrs.Wifey]

Originally Posted by 1stlifeline

Sorry, dont want to alarm you but with is it was the opposite. other half and his ex agreed a sum 10 years ago and payments were paid into her bank and reciepts kept. 3 years ago she went on benefits and the CSA got involved. In spite of her telling them that she had been paid regularly and him having reciepts they still intervened. He was made told to send the reciepts to the CSA and they assessed what he should have paid. It turned out that he had, according to thieir assessment underpaid by £180. Even though his ex said he had never missed a payment and that he had also paid for things such as washing machine. tv etc for her since the split, he still had to pay the £180. The daft thing was that she didnt see a penny of it, t all went direct to the CSA. Seems they are a law unto themselves. Keep every receipt for every penny.

What you're describing is pretty much what I'm expecting to happen, which is why I've been trying to research into it.

The only difference is, his ex-wife has been on benefits for a very long time and is still on benefits....that's never changed. Once social was aware that they were separated, they sent the forms to my husband and he filled them in and sent them back. And we haven't heard anything since, and it's been 4 years. An alternative arrangement was made amongst themselves with the solicitor and he's been paying her directly, first with cash then with standing order. I think she was even cautioned once for not declaring the maintenance to social, about a year after he started paying her voluntarily. I would've thought some sort of red flag would've been raised, but I guess not. So, I don't know what's happened. Perhaps his forms were thrown away---seems like I remember something like that happening because of the CSA employees being overloaded One can hope.