CSA demand money from me out of the blue

I have two children, my daughter 19 (who is no longer legally my daughter) who lived with her mother until 2006, my son (16) who I have brought up since 2002 – as a single parent. Between 1996 and 1998 I had an arrangement via solicitor to pay support for both my children which I instigated and honoured after our breakup and I was unable to take them on myself. In 1998 it ended up their mother contacted the CSA and my payments were reduced as they got involved. Again I honoured the situation and paid the CSA and made up the difference to my children. In 2002 I sadly lost my job but to my delight, my son came to stay with me permanently.

At that time since I was unemplyed I was asked to pay something to CSA which I couldn’t afford but I managed £100. After discussions with CSA and making a long winded counter claim, CSA said that because my son’s mum was unemployed that there was nothing to claim and that the counter claim cancelled everything out and they would therefore not take either case any further….. This was via phone call.

Eight years have since passed and I have remained a single parent/brought my son up by myself. His mother has only been in touch once since then and married again five years ago. My daughter and I keep in touch although she is now at Uni and ran away from home in 2006 subsequently staying with her aunt & uncle who live close by her. My son and I live over 100 miles away.

So the CSA got in touch just over a week ago in writing and asked me to pay £16k. I challenged this by calling up and asking for the circumstances and it appears to be an internal CSA generated request as they have never had any response from their mother since 2003 and they have neither contacted me since then.

So I’ve worked hard to bring up my son on my own over the last 8 years, he turns 17 in Sept and is a job seeker. The call to the CSA was left at:

1. They would try and contact my ex wife to see if she wants to persue
2. If she does persue then they say i am liable to pay the £16k to them.
3. If she doesn’t respond then they may drop the case
4. If she doesn’t persue but does respond then they will adjust the fee.

I will be contacted tomorrow/or Saturday morning with a response.

Please could you provide some advice as to where I stand as I believe that they should have said something musch earlier in the 8 years and surely they should have honoured my situation as a single parent? I really don’t think it’s fair to ask for this after the amount of time that has passed and due to the fact that I have been a single parent for so long. It appears that they will punish me because I have worked hard, had my own income and made it this far. My son is very upset at the situation and is also upset that his mother has never made an effort – where is his justice?

I believe that if they do persue that I will need to seek a solicitor to assist me further.

Best regards,

Ian