Ex decided I wasn’t paying enough so went to CSA

September 25, 2012

I am a father of two girls and now live my new partner and her two children and have mine over fortnightly. I have always paid maintenance for my girls. Im self employed and was paying direct to my ex`s bank acount for the last three years until recently.

She decided that i was not paying enough and she would go to the CSA and get more. I was paying £200 per month and struggling at that as business is virtually non existant.All my accounts went off to the CSA. The next i heard that i should pay £56 per month.Fine i`ll pay her that and at least it will be more affordable at the moment. Of course this was not her plan and appealed.

They came back 6 months later saying i will have to pay £196.00 per month and now have £1400 arrears. This is because they now take tax credits in to account.Of which their repayment plan is also unaffortable. At this time they said i should cease payments direct and pay them. Apparently at her request. I stopped paying until they sort out the correct arreas as they have based their figures on the year before last accounts and now this years earnings are less.

Surprise! no change on the ammount i should be paying. Too much time has passed so i decided to start paying my ex direct £25 /wk and £5/wk for the arrears whether she wants it or not. She has accepted this and the CSA said should i continue to do this she will just put it down to the girls for pocket money and will not count. Is this True?

Also they are threatening court action if i dont comply. Surely the court will see that i am paying at what i currently can afford and not issue a warrant or baliffs?

This a complete waste of country resources. I thought the CSA was to enforce non paying parents or is it because im an easy target.

Im now about to give up trying to sort it out because anything i say to them falls on deaf ears.

What would be the best thing to do?

Comments

  • chall says:

    joss,

    As the CSA have calculated the amount of CS you are liable for and your ex requires the agency to collect such, you should pay the full amount via the agency as directed.
    Furthermore, unless your ex agree’s the amount she receives from you is specifically for child maintenance, then it will NOT be taken into consideration as such.

    Can you confirm whether the CSA first become involved before OR after April 2010?

    If it was before, was your ex in receipt of benefits?

    chall ~ afairercsaforall

  • joss says:

    no she not on benefits and the CSA only has been involved since nov 2011

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