CSA have based my payments on my old earnings

July 17, 2009

I was divorced about 4 years ago, my wife took everything from the marriage as well as my following earnings, etc etc. She was left very well off, and during all of this time I was living and working abroad, and when I eventually stopped working, for tax reasons I continued to live abroad until the start of this present tax year. The csa have given me numerous ammounts of arrears which change weekly from £10,000 right up to £30,000. There seems to be no structure to their system of how to work out arrears. I have not worked now for 3 years, but they are basing my payments on my old wage, that I was foolish to give them.

This is the reason for my enquiry, under the following parts of the act, should I indeed be paying any maintenance, I want to on a voluntary basis, but here goes:

1. Section 44(1) child support act 1991, in regards to habitual residence.

2. Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1992, regards living abroad.

3.Para 7901 Child support manual (maintenance assessments)and Child Support Guidance Volume 3.regarding when an assessment should end.

4. Canceling assessments. Schedule 1 Para 16 (5) Child Support Act 1993 Regulation 7 (1), and finally Child Support (Maintenance Assessments and Jurisdiction) Regulations.

I’m now on my uppers and borrowing from family to meet their payments, as they have threatened imprisonment. I am aware that legal aid cannot be sought for CSA reasons.

IS THERE ANY HELP OUT THERE?????????

Comments

  • mr.pink says:

    1. An assessment is made on your weekly take home pay. No income-zero payments due. The ex can apply for a Variation though if you have more than GBP65K stashed, unless it’s in an offshore account.
    You need to ensure the CSA know you had a zero income for the previous 3 years.
    2. Habitual Residence does not appear to have a firm definition. An ex-pat only living abroad for a few years and coming back to the UK would not meet the requirement. You might evade the CSA whilst abroad but they would hit you for arraers on your return.

    More to follow……

  • mr.pink says:

    Worst case, as I see it……. Divorced 4 years ago, no income for 3 years, once the CSA accept evidence you have not worked for the past 3 years, your assessment will be for 1 year of earnings.
    You do not say if your contributions were voluntary or how many children, but CSA guidance states NRP will pay 15% of weekly take home pay for 1 child and 20% for 2. What I don’t know, is how this is affected when the NRP is abroad on Tax Free earnings.
    On your point 2, the following CSA web page states:

    http://www.csa.gov.uk/en/setup/remo-countries.asp

    Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders or REMO is the process by which maintenance orders made by UK courts on behalf of UK residents can be registered and enforced by courts or other authorities in other countries against people resident there.
    This is a reciprocal arrangement governed by international conventions, which means that foreign maintenance orders in favour of individuals abroad can likewise be registered and enforced by UK courts against UK residents.

    There is a list of Countries at the foot of this page but it doesn’t sound as if you went through the Courts, so should not apply.

    Para 16 (5) is about Perioical Reviews. Realistically, the CSA are so slow in processing info, you will be lucky to get them to sort out the above mess. Both parents are obliged to advise of ‘a change of circumstance’ , so this should trigger a reassessment , which is what you want.

  • jordi piferrer says:

    im stop working from 2 december,can i stop my payments till working again

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