A view from the other side

I know plenty of stories on here are from people moaning about greedy exes and being hard done to. I am from the other side.

My ex partner left me when my son was six weeks old after spending five years telling me how much he would love a son. He left me with nothing, he spent my savings, wouldn’t let me have anything from the house and left me with his debts. I found a wonderful man and we married and had another daughter. My husband had a son from a previous marriage and paid every penny asked as well as looked after him every weekend. All we wanted from my ex was the same maintenance to offset the one we paid out even though he was on a much higher salary, he refused. Five years the CSA chased him and when he eventually paid he moaned about it so much that we came to an agreement. I signed a solicitors letter that said he could pay £250 rather than the £600 they asked for and he would pay the £10000 he agreed he owed after my son turned 18. So 13 years later after a handful of visits and no Birthday or Christmas presents, he suddenly says he won’t pay another penny and laughs at the agreement as being a piece of meaningless paper. So I call up the CSA and they have given me a huge light at the end of the tunnel. You see the £14800, that was in arrears is still there. He is on four times the wage we are on, driving around in a Mercedes with a lovely house in Cambridge, while I live in a two bedroom leaking flat in Wales ( sleeping in my living room ) . I have been told he has been given 7 days to answer a letter and his work have been called as he was previously on a DEO.

My question is how likely am I to see this money if he plays up and what can I do to help. I found his work place with lots of detective work 13 years ago because the CSA believed that he wasn’t at the addresses I had, he wouldn’t answer the calls. I have been left in limbo and to be honest feel that I am always the one being mugged off while he makes a success of his life. I have always entertained his calls in the middle of the night when he feels he has let his son down, encouraged my son to give him another chance again and again and not acted like the exes I saw at the school gates after everything they could get and this is my thank you. I am sure there are plenty of Dads out there desperate for the chance of that kind of relationship, he has no idea how lucky he has been despite his behaviour, but I am fed up being the nice guy that gets walked over. I am now wanting what is owed. Please can you give me some encouraging words.