Where has the money been going?

I was contacted by the CSA in 2005 and began making maintenance payments for my 2 children.

My wife gave birth to our child and I had 2 weeks paternity leave in 2007, upon returning to work the CSA deducted half of my weekly wage and I was unable to pay the bills, my only option was to come out of work as I was unable to live on what the CSA were leaving me each week.

I did not pay the CSA again until earlier this year when they contacted me saying that I owed them £16,000 arrears, I spoke to them regarding the arrears and advised them that my children were now living in the USA and have been since 2008, they re-calculated my arrears and told me I owed them £6,000 for which i set up a monthly standing order.

I have since made contact with my ex and our children and having spoken to my ex I have discovered the last time she received a payment from them was in 2006 as when she got married she was advised that she was not entitled to claim money through them even thought they continued to take money from my wages.

I have been speaking to the CSA over the last 2 weeks as I wanted to find out where the money I have paid is going and I was advised that it is being paid to my ex, I know this is not true as my ex does not have an English bank account and hasn’t had one since 2008 when she emigrated to the US. I told the CSA this and they then backtracked and could not tell me where the money has been paid to but said that my ex needs to contact them to say she does not want them claiming any money from me which she is happy to do.

I want to stop making payments to the CSA as I would prefer to send the money directly to my ex however I am concerned about action the CSA may take against me.

I would also like to make sure the money I have already paid does go to my ex so she can pay for my daughters educational fees.

Please can anyone advise me on the best course of action to take?