CSA can do nothing to get money from my ex
In January of 2012 I gave birth unexpectantly to a little boy. I had no idea I was pregnant and was completely shocked to find myself in this situation. My sons father and I were ex partners and remained good friends after he decided to go back to a previous partner.
I called him to tell him the news and unfortunately he was furious which I completely understood. We never spoke for a few weeks until he contacted me on a lads night out and wanted to know more about his son. He seemed genuine and offered to help with paying toward him. However 2 months later there had been no more talk of support and pure abuse was the only form of contact he threatned me on a daily basis and I was to keep quiet about my son so that his girlfriend never found out.
I ended up contacting the CSA as I felt he’d had enough time to get his head around what had happened and he had no interest in seeing my son. The CSA informed me I would get £42 a month starting in April.
As my sons father has failed to reply to any of the warning letters and phone calls the CSA have given him I have seen no money 7 months later and Iam barely making ends meet.
The CSA have a “TRACE” on him but cannot revoke his driving license as he already has criminal convitions related to driving so that has been taken already and he owns no property so looks like ill be supporting my son alone for the next 18 years alone.
The system is so wrong and I feel fathers not willing to support their children should be arrested and made to set up a direct debit. Oh well as long as he has enjoyed the 4 holidays he has been on this year and his girlfriend enjoys the new Merc that he has bought them from his healthy monthly wage!
5 thoughts on “CSA can do nothing to get money from my ex”
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Hannah,
Is your ex employed OR self employed?
The link below will take you to the CSA’s leaflet ‘What action can the CSA take if parents don’t pay?’
http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@benefits/documents/digitalasset/dg_198853.pdf
chall ~ afairercsaforall
CSA can do nothing to get money from my ex
October 1, 2012
“The system is so wrong and I feel fathers not willing to support their children should be arrested and made to set up a direct debit. Oh well as long as he has enjoyed the 4 holidays he has been on this year and his girlfriend enjoys the new Merc that he has bought them from his healthy monthly wage!”
Hi, I’m sorry to hear your situation. Yes the system IS wrong. The purpose of the csa was to chase those fathers (and mothers) who dont pay for their children. Unfortunately the csa seem to spend most of their time chasing those parents who do pay, often taking more from them than they should. I sometimes wonder whether the various failures of the csa is a result of greed or stupidity, there are many cases where parents, like you, dont get the money even after the csa have collected it. You can try and follow the link in the previous blog and see if that helps, the DWP seem capable of catching benefit cheats when they put their minds to it. I hope you get a result in this situation and wish you the best.
I realise this isn’t something you want to hear but do you not think that he should have been given some choice as to whether he wanted to be the father of “your son” as you put it. He has just totally lost control of his life and it sounds like his life was not that under control anyhow. I agree the system is wrong and fathers who won’t pay should be imprisoned. However I’d balance it out by having a law that say’s if the mother has not got the written consent of the father, unless they are married to have the child then it’s her sole responsibility the same as if she had gone to a sperm bank.
do you know where your ex works? If so have you provided this information to the CSA? If the CSA have a current employer for the NRP they can impose a DEO – deduction of earnings order – of up to 40% of his net income.
In Scotland a CSA DEO is the priority DEO if there are others (ie council tax or other debt collection agency)
In England DEOs are paid in date order, so if there is another DEO issued prior to the CSA imposing a DEO then the CSA order may not get paid until the other order is finished.
There are other enforcement actions that the CSA can take, they can apply for a liability order which can force the sale of his property, this takes time to get through the courts and is only effective if he has assets – more effective in England as a liability order in England is passed on for baliff action. There are also several other actions that can be taken but the details are best not put on here – phone the csa and ask what enforement action is being taken
At present they have no trace of my ex working in Britain as he is actually offshore with a norwegian company I think this is why they may have been having some diffuculties with obtaining money from him, they have set up a deductions from earnings order and put a liability order on him but he doesnt have property so I cant imagine I will see the money as he is already in over £10,000 debt and trying to pay that off to.
John- He was given the choice as to weather or not he wanted to be part of my sons life after he calmed down and he decided that he did. With the help of his parents and grandparents he maintained contact with my son…. On three ocassions. I realised that he was not the most secure and stable man to have a child with and never intended upon calling the CSA but after sleepless nights of drunken/ abusive phone calls and two apprearences at my home demanding to see his son in a disgusting state I was so angry. It takes two to tango and both of us stupidly were in the wrong when my son was concived. If he can afford to go on the 4 holidays hes been on and drive around a fancy car Im sure he can support my son even if he doesnt want to be part of his life- it is his (as well as my) responsibility to care for a child we have both brought into this world. I am a social worker so I pay for childcare, food, milk, clothing, nappies and a roof over my sons head why shouldnt he contribute? As for written consent Im sorry but Ive never heard so much crap in all of my life we had unprotected sex so we BOTH have to deal with the outcome. Thank god we werent married he was sleeping with his previous girlfriend all throughout our relationship and when drunk very abusive toward me, a divorce would just be another thing for me to pay for, but thankyou for your pig headed male thoughts!