STRESS.....Help needed

[claireabc]

Ok firstly let me apologise as this may turn into quite a lengthy post and drawn out history of the last few years.

Secondly,i'm not sure if i'm posting this in the right place so my apologies again.

 

Right let me start at the very begining.

 

*10 years ago i met my now husband. At the time his then ex girlfriend was pregnant with his child. His Ex subsequently gave birth to the child.....problems then started. Due to being unable to resolve these problems my now husband stopped any contact with both his ex and their child.

My husband offered to make a private agreement with his ex to pay her maintenance payments. At the time he was in quite a good job (assistant manager at a retail store).

An agreement was never reached so his Ex went to the CSA (fair enough). For reasons unknown to either party the CSA never contacted my husband regarding his maintenance payments.

 

*Just over a year later i gave birth to our first child. We (the 3 of us) moved into our own home. At the same time, my husband changed jobs - to what we thought would be a better paid job. This ended up being not the case, so my husbands income dropped drastically. At the time i was not working.

 

*A few years later my husband recieved a letter from the CSA demanding payment, He sent off all the appropriate forms etc detailing his income (for the 2nd time). Once again we didn't hear anything back.

 

*4/5 years ago my husband became self employed

 

*I then gave birth to our second child

 

*2 Years ago My husband received another letter from the CSA saying he owed X amount of pounds (cant remember the figure). He then phoned and wrote to the CSA - filled in the approrpiate forms and returned copies of his tax returns to inform them that his income had dropped drastically in the preceeding few years and that the figures they were quoting were grossly over inflated.

 

*The CSA ignored these and issued a liability order against my husband. My husband is currently paying £100 per month towards this liability order (well trying too but thats a different story)

 

*Just over a year ago I commenced self employment and am currently turning quite a nice profit. My Husband has NOTHING to do with my business and still continues his own - which is turning a very modest profit.

 

*This morning we received another letter from the CSA telling us my husband has missed a weekly payment and that he needs to pay asap. This weekly payment is still the over inflated figure quoted and is not representative of what my husband can afford.

We have spoken to a solicitor who has said to send back tax returns and involve MP if necessary but in the meantime to pay the weekly amount they are demanding.

 

So here i get to my questions.......

 

A) As my husband is already paying £100 per month to the liability order he really can't afford to pay the weekly amount to the CSA - I however can. If I pay the weekly payments are the CSA going to say that we can afford to make these payments, not look at the situation at all therefore leaving me to make the payments until the child is 17?

 

B) As i make a reasonably good income from my business and can afford to pay the majority of the bills etc, will the CSA look at my income and determine that we can manage without my husbands income and therefore take most of it for his other child??

 

Please dont get me wrong, i truly believe that my husband should pay for his other child and am more than happy to contribute to the payments until the LO is paid, however i (personally) don't want to be paying for him for the next few years.

My husband also WANTS to pay for his child, but at a rate he can afford without taking any from me.

 

I know this is an essay long post but would be grateful if someone could advise.

 

Thanks

[jdes26]

No your wages has nothing to do with his children

1. Is the liability order linked to your property

2. 6 years trying to sort payment..... If no agreement was made with CSA I didn't think they could go back and charge areas

3. Your partner should only b paying 15% for one child of his total profit after tax/ ni / expenses

[afcwben]

CSA have a complaionts procedure to follow http://www.nacsa.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56&Itemid=81 follow the instructions if this fails then write to the chief executive. Ensure all contact is done via mail

[Stressedandfedup]

Jdes you are wrong apart from the wages but.

Claire, what date did your hubby's case start? Before or after march 2003? I can better advise you if I know what 'rules' the CSA are using for his case.

[Stressedandfedup]

The LO covers a specific period of time. If your hubby isn't paying the regular maintenance then he will build up more and it's very possible the CSA may go for a second LO depending on how much is accrued.

Also if the arrears are only at LO stage and it's being paid then it won't be 'registered' at your address. I think jdes is thinking about a charging order which the CSA cannot apply for unless they go to county court (whereas LO's are obtained at mags courts) and can show you have been a consistent non-payer or that the debt is massive. AND they would have to try using the bailiffs first but as your hubby is paying they can't really send the case to the bailiffs.

Basically the CSA, believe or not, would prefer not to go down the route of courts etc due to the costs involved for us taxpayers.

What I will warn you about though, is that, while reg ma isn't being paid, the money CSA gets will automatically pay towards that first and any difference will be paid off the arrears. This means that a new case officer may think the arrears are not being paid at the agreed amount (arrears ate agreed as an addition to reg ma) BUT if somewhere on the notes an officer had written '£100/m for arrears' then technically the money has to be officially deducted from the LO arrears. But this will still leave the new build up.

If I were you, I'd make sure they say why the assessment hasn't been changed, and whatever they say ask for a brand new one. Make a point Of 'welfare of the children' as this includes the children you have. If the arrears aren't massive you may have room to reduce the amount just a smidgin. It may help if a small lump can be paid towards the arrears. The more willing to co-operate is shown the better.

[Stressedandfedup]

The 6year thing..... Doesn't apply to CSA or other 'crown debts'. That's a consumer/credit thing.

There is a thing they are limited by re being able to secure debt on a LO but that is for cases older than June or July 2000.

[jdes26]

Until the CSA has assessed how can they know what should be paid?

If no accounts/ earning was produced surelyvno arrears can occur

The CSA state arrears will occur when a pwc has entered and provided derails of earnings

 

 

Quote

 

An agreement was never reached so his Ex went to the "CSA (fair enough). For reasons unknown to either party

the CSA never contacted my husband regarding his maintenance payments."

[jdes26]

Never contacted!!!!!!

 

My god how can the CSA know what should be paid if they have

1. Not contacted

2. Have no knowledge of earnings

 

Bloody telepathic or Houdini

 

Bloody greedy blood suckers!!!

[Stressedandfedup]

It's on the onus of the clients to contact the CSA if there's a problem.

The NRP in this case was informed that there was a case therefore from CSA point of view why didn't he chase the CSA up for the info?

This case NRP supplied info so they would have used it to make the assessment. If it was insufficient to make a 'Formal maintenance assessment' and no other info was received within the assessment time limit, it is possible that an 'Interim MA' (a penalty assessment). Don't think this happened on this case but its worth checking out as its possible to revise IMA's to FMA's.

This situation, I'd check over my paperwork and if necessary I'd order a SAR (will cost about £10). Basically if I could find any indication that something wasn't done after receiving my info, it'd be a case of maladministration and they would have to correct it. It'd be a long haule job, but I'd start the complaints route. Slightly shorter would be to go to the local MP.

[Stressedandfedup]

Claire, I think your hubby is in the 'old rules' which basically means its a very complicated formula to assess.

Your income cannot be counted with hubby's as you are not financially responsible for the child. The reason why they'd ask for all your details is to create an exempt income or a protected income figure. The easiest way to explain is that the CSA first calculates as if the NRP is single with no dependants and then if he has, he gets an extra 'allowance' added to his protected income figure. If you were not working you would be classed as fully dependant on hubby to pay all the bills and the figures adjusted again. The income the CSA uses is any taxable income hubby gets but not tax credits of child benefit type things.

Find out how many times your hubby has been assessed and see if any of the info they've used is wrong.

I know thus us a lot of writing but I hope it helps!