Going to court against the CSA

March 4, 2010

My child is now 18 and over the 10 years the csa have been involved arrears had accrued at the outset the difference between what i was paying and what i was eventually told to pay some £5400.

My gripes are thus Since my daughter was born i have been paying into a savings sceme that matured in January 2010 paying out £5400 during the last 7 years when statements of arrears arrived i spoke to and wrote to the Csa informing them not to worry about the arrears as the policy will pay it in one go. the cheque arrived in the name of mr & mrs sullivan ( ex wife not changed name ) the Csa said i should send the cheque to them to settle the account but my 18yr old daughter had other ideas for the cheque and wanted me to give her the cheque so her mother could bank it and give her some of the money, i reluctantly gave her the cheque thinking that finally there would be an end to all this moneygrabbing but i was wrong.

I was then told by the csa that this money would not be able to be offset against the arrears even though i had discussed it with them loads of times over the years and was never told this would happen because if i did i would have had the choice to stop paying into the savings scheme and paid the same ammount i was paying off the arrears instead.

In may last year after loosing my job my payment was reassessed and i was told to pay £49 per month instead of £394 I was told to send a final cheque for this ammount and the signed direct debit forms which i did along with yet another letter ref the savings scheme paying off the arrears in Jan.

My partner had an accident abroad and i went to look after her for 5 months the next thing i know is that my daughter rings me very upset because the csa have told her that they will arrest me and take away my driving liscence, my passport, freeze my bank account, have my home sold, send in the baliffs and ultimately imprison her dad. Basically when i rang them they said that they had changed their minds about the £49 per month because in their opinion take too long to pay off and they now wanted £250 per month.

I said why have they not taken the £49 per month from my account while i was overseas they said it was my responsibility to make sure that the payments were going out of my account and not theirs i explained that i had no access to internet banking while abroad and assumed that they would take it from my account as they had done for the last 7 years and that i had never missed a payment of £394 so why would i choose not to pay £49 instead.

I contacted an online solicitor about this and was told that i would be able to put my case to a judge and let the judge decide what i should and shouldnt pay which i can live with as fair, however i have not had the opportunity to say my side of the story as on Friday i recieved court document stating that the csa have been granted a ORDER FOR RECOVERY OF AWARD and i do not know what to do from here i have phoned a few so called csa specialists and all they seem to want is £250 which i do not have to spare what can you suggest as a course of action for me.

Regards

Sean Sullivan

Comments

  • Si says:

    There is one option available to you at the moment and that is to apply to the courts for a suspension of the order using form N245 – just search on google and you will find it. It costs £35 to submit and you will get the opportunity to sit in front of a judge who will go through your income and outgoings and will set an order for you to repay a certain amount each month based upon your circumstances. Once you have done this as long as you don’t miss a payment the CSA cannot take any further enforcement action but it is vital that you make sure the payments are made on time every month. If you are on income support for example the court can order a weekly payment as low as £2.60. If you want proper legal advice give Durham Legal Services a try, it costs £35 for 2 telephone interviews, I have used them and found them very helpful

  • D smart says:

    Is it fair that I should be persecuted by my ex wife through the csa,when I have shared my 2 boys week on week off,my eldest boy(3rd child), I looked after permanently from 13 to 19 years after my wife comitted adultery,

    my ex wife decided that the youngest boy would live with her permanently 2 years ago,she claims for this child with the csa,I have never claimed for the years I looked after the eldest boy.she is married to a wealthy businessman and is claiming out of spite,because I am now engaged to be married soon.

  • matthew says:

    my 3 children i live with are being forced into poverty by the csa… they want half of our tax credits for my ex partner with my 2 children ,, discusting goverment we have im affraid. my wife now wants to leave our home and go on her own back into a councill house and back on benifits which will cost the tax payer more .. we were given this advise by somone who has done this and are now better of and living better …. what a good idea .. so declare splitting up live appart have seperate claims ,, then the csa cant starve your kids that you live with to feed your exes kids with caviar .. or ex partner with new shoes and hair… we are just looking into it now as we have had enough ..

  • James says:

    I have provided for my child for the past 12 years and have received £0.00 from the csa since, only last month I received a £0.00 from the csa, a month later ive got pay now demand of £1600.00 as my ex wants to pursue csa payments. she has a 4 bed detached council house, 4 kids 3 different fathers and a husband who never works, and just splashed a load of money to get the entire house decorated, strange I should get a bill all of a sudden, and no mention that I have my daughter every weekend, holidays and when Im not working, and have been providing for the past 12 years, I only work freelance and work only 3-4 days a month, I dont claim benefits and Im now lodging with my mum.

  • Miles says:

    Sorry to be unkind but you didn’t do what thy said! What do you expect.

    “the Csa said i should send the cheque to them to settle the account but my 18yr old daughter had other ideas”

  • Terry Scott says:

    get in touch with http://www.nacsa.co.uk they will help you sort it out.

    Solicitors are MONEY WASTERS! and don’t or can’t go up against a legal framework that is so complex and riddled with shambolic workings DWP.

    Terry

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