Company Directors & CSA

jackiegats

mothercranky wrote: »

am just wanting to ressurect this thread. as i am in the same horrible position as you guys were and wondering if anyone had any joy or can advise me how to go about proving his income? am considering a PI but wondering about the cost of this.

thanks

I started this thread and would like to say the CSA are pretty useless. My claim with them went on for ages and I made a complaint to my local MP who did seem to have some influence over them as they then started an investigation. Unfortunately, it was down to me to prove my ex's income and show his lifestyle was not in accordance with his declared income. This is very difficult to do and, despite sending the CSA pictures of his home and cars, details of all the holidays he has had that i am aware of etc, etc, the CSA decided that his declared income of £104 per week was correct and I was left with the choice of going to court to appeal the decision or accept it. As I know my ex would go mad if I went to court, and would end up punishing the kids, I decided not to go down this route. If my children were younger I would definitely have considered it.

It is so difficult to prove an income in these situations. I'm not sure about the cost of a PI but do wonder if even their evidence would be accepted by the CSA.

I wish you luck with this and hope you have more success than I did. I have written again to my MP and the letter has been passed on to Helen Goodman - the MP with responsibility for the CSA. Maybe if more people did this something might be changed for the future.

mothercranky

thanks for your reply, i did write to my mp already as my claim has been passed around the country for the last 3 years, my ex works for his best friend so they have it sorted between them and they change what he says he is working every time they are asked for money. there was an attachment of earnings made last december that they have never honoured.
he is now saying he earns £58 a week and living off his girlfriend. they say they dont take her earnings into consideration. i feel i have battled for 3 years for nothing and that he has got one over on me.

frugallass

it's about time that the CSA realised that this is a common occurrence, these NRPs are shafting the system because the CSA let them. The CSA cannot be bothered to investigate or follow up any of the information provided by the PWCs

I was advised last week, by a CSA worker, to go down the variation route, then when it's rejected (which it probably will be) take it to appeal - I've had a think about it and seeing as I have nothing to lose I am going to give it a try

mothercranky

yeh i have been advised the same. Althou i did this last year and won the variation, but he has now said he has changed his hours so i have to do it again. he will just keep changing his hours every time i do it.

Dancing_Shoes

mothercranky wrote: »

thanks for your reply, i did write to my mp already as my claim has been passed around the country for the last 3 years, my ex works for his best friend so they have it sorted between them and they change what he says he is working every time they are asked for money. there was an attachment of earnings made last december that they have never honoured.
he is now saying he earns £58 a week and living off his girlfriend. they say they dont take her earnings into consideration. i feel i have battled for 3 years for nothing and that he has got one over on me.

Have you contacted Nacsa or someone similar for help with this? It appears that he is obviously playing games and the CSA should be able to do something about his friend not setting up the deo?
As for his girlfriend her money is not your concern as your children are not her responsibilty as i'm sure you will agree;)

Soubrette

mothercranky wrote: »

am just wanting to ressurect this thread. as i am in the same horrible position as you guys were and wondering if anyone had any joy or can advise me how to go about proving his income? am considering a PI but wondering about the cost of this.

thanks

Did you split up recently? If so do you have paperwork such as joint bank accounts showing dividend payments in addition to salary?

If you have nothing then does his lifestyle exceed his stated income? - if that is the case then go for a normal CSA claim, then ask for a variation telling them that your ex is a director of a ltd company and thus has the ability to control his own income. Tell them why you think he has a higher income than that which he has declared eg nice car, nice holidays, nice house etc, also mention anything that you have knowledge of when you together. Do a statement of affairs (incomings and outgoings) is you can. You should be able to get things like council tax/mortgage deeds/his company accounts either free or for a small fee using the internet.

Also mention if he has savings of over £65000 (I think) as anything above this is also part of the child maintenance calculation.

It seems to be standard procedure for the CSA to fail these variations. Ask for a Tribunal with a specialist accountant present. This will take months but the standard of evidence that your ex will be asked to provide will be much more than the 'my word is my bond' that the CSA will ask for.

Sou

Soubrette

mothercranky wrote: »

thanks for your reply, i did write to my mp already as my claim has been passed around the country for the last 3 years, my ex works for his best friend so they have it sorted between them and they change what he says he is working every time they are asked for money. there was an attachment of earnings made last december that they have never honoured.
he is now saying he earns £58 a week and living off his girlfriend. they say they dont take her earnings into consideration. i feel i have battled for 3 years for nothing and that he has got one over on me.

Sorry, I spent so long with my reply open that I missed everything but your opening query

Ask the CSA how to apply for a Tribunal - the level of evidence required is much higher than from the CSA. I personally do not feel the a partner of the NRP should be at all responsible for the upkeep of his children but I do feel that once the partner's income has been brought to the table by the NRP then more evidence is required.

You can ask for the Tribunal for evidence of her earnings as he is claiming to live off of her earning. My ex has had to provide 3 years of company accounts, banks statements and credit card statements as well as his partner's earnings and expenditure.

If your ex is living a lifestyle of more than his declared earnings then his income and expenditure should reflect this.

Sou

Soubrette

Dancing_Shoes wrote: »

As for his girlfriend her money is not your concern as your children are not her responsibilty as i'm sure you will agree;)

I agree, until the NRP claims he lives off her earnings - then some kind of evidence should be provided to that effect.

I do think the evidence should be confidential though - not something the PWC should be privy to.

If the NRP doesn't claim to live off the NRPP then I totally agree

Sou

karenx

Its so unfair how the system works, Im also in a similar position. My ex claims he does not work, yet he has a flat near town with a mortgage. I looked up flats in his street and they were about 200k. He is always going on holidays and getting new cars, just recently he got yet another new one. I keep telling csa and they say they will ask him about his circumstances but as usual he just says he is still not working but doesnt want to claim any benefits. I know he is doing cash in hand work, and it frustrates me sooo much!!

Soubrette

karenx wrote: »

Its so unfair how the system works, Im also in a similar position. My ex claims he does not work, yet he has a flat near town with a mortgage. I looked up flats in his street and they were about 200k. He is always going on holidays and getting new cars, just recently he got yet another new one. I keep telling csa and they say they will ask him about his circumstances but as usual he just says he is still not working but doesnt want to claim any benefits. I know he is doing cash in hand work, and it frustrates me sooo much!!

Ask for a variation form and put in a claim that his lifestyle exceeds his stated income.

When this fails ask for a Tribunal - your ex will have to proved a lot of paperwork explaining how he funds this lifestyle.

Sou