CSA Question

JOHNSTONE1

Hi i have a few question that i hope someone can help with please dont judge me if i sound like i'm being unfair.

My husband and i split last year and as a result a put in a claim with the CSA for our son. He was in the army at the ime and gave all the required information i got a letter about a month afterwards saying i would be getting x ammount per month based on his earnings, about week later i gfot one saying he now had 2 children so the ammount would be halved between them. I was obviuosly very upset and called up to find out what was goin on and all they would say was someone else had put in a claim after me. Ispoke to my husband who said yes he had recieved another claim which he had disputed as he didnt know anything about it and the child was born 7 years ago when he was 18. Shortly after that he went AWOL for 7 months and did tempory work during that time i never recieved any payments or explanation as to why the only reson i knew anything about it was from his family. He then handed himself back in and i got one payment then he got sent to prison and i got a letter saying he now earned nothing so the payments were 0.

Since he came out we have been trying to sort things out for the sake of out son we dont know what to do about this other child. I dont really think its fair to try and claim CSA for a child that he never even knew existed and there is no proof is his. He hasnt heard of the woman and neither have any of his friends or family if he is indeed his he is a result of a one night stand. Why did she wait 7 years of not saying anything to anyone and then suddenly come out with it? Do you think its fair to have all your wages taken by a family you have never met or are never likely to meet?? He couldnt afford a DNA test at the time and cant now either he has worked a couple off weeks through an agency but is now out of work again.

What is the best thing to do he is struggleing to get by now and isnt earninga regular wage anyway. How do they work your earnings out when one week you earn £200 and the next week you earn nothing?! he has loads of debt too i'm just worried sick.

Also i only knew the information i gave thre CSA as i am married to him and have known him for 6 years, where would she have got this info from, and do the CSA ever get the wrong person?? xxxx

clairec79

If he disputes it the CSA will do a DNA test - if it proves child is not his then no money due (and the CSA pay for the DNA test) if however the DNA test proves child is his he has to pay child support and the cost of the DNA test.

I would imagine she was able to manage for 7 years then went onto benefits and they asked who the father is and automatically refered the case to the CSA. If he was in the Army when she conceived then if she said it was 'Corporal Fred Jones who was at X station between 1998 and 1999' that probably would have been enough for the Army to trace him

JOHNSTONE1

Thanks for your reply, he wasnt in the army when he was 18 so she wouldnt of known that, noone he knows has heard of her or remembers her name. He honestly says he has never heard of her. I know the info that i had to give the csa was quite indepth for him not to remember her at all it must ave been a very brief encounter if it happened at all, i'm suprised she even knew his full name let alone all the rest!

Zara33

The only way you are both going to get this sorted out is that chappie gets a DNA test ok you say he can't afford it at the moment but surely it's better knowing...why pay for a child that might not be his.

JOHNSTONE1

I know, but if it comes back positve, not only will we have to pay for the test he will also be paying her god knows what each month, he's not even earning at the moment!

I was interseted to know whether people think that its right to claim CSA for a child that the supposed parent didnt even know existed for 7 years, knows nothing about and will never get to know. We all know that babies are easily made and any man is responsible for his action in that sense but not know anything about the mother, not have any relationship it just all seems wrong to me

Donedoingdebt

Unfortunately, right or wrong doesn't come into it with the CSA.
They have a legal obligation to collect child support at whatever age the child is when the application is made.
If it comes back positive then he will be liable.
If he's absolutely certain the child is not his, is there any way he can borrow the money for the test, because, as clairec79 said, if the test is negative, he will get all costs refunded.
Finally, there's always the chance the CSA have made a mistake & are chasing the wrong person.

JOHNSTONE1

Do the CSA often get the wrong person or is this very unlikely??

Sorry for all the questions, i'm just so worried and stressed about this, he has so much debt already that we have been trying to get rid of and now theres the prospect that half the money he does make is going to be taken away by poeple we've never even heard of

N71

It is possible that they're chasing the wrong person, it does happen but very rarely thankfully.

Has your hubby got an unusual or very common name?

The minimum info the CSA would need to chase someone is there name and dob - or they could even search with just an approx age.

If he has a very unusual name, eg; Cuthbert Zebedee Barrington-Smythe and he was 18 in 2000/2001, chances are only one would come up in the UK, and if the address/area matched they'd have somewhere to start.

However, if his name is eg; John Smith and he was 18 in 2000/2001 - hundreds would be brought up across the country so they wouldn't know where to start.

When/where did the CSA first contact him regarding this other child? Was it via his parent address (where they were when he was 18). At this first contact he should have disputed paternity and taken up the dna testing.

Regarding whether its right or wrong for someone to claim CSA from a father who knows nothing about a child - its a very difficult area. Both women and men should take precautions whatever age they are if they don't want children - is it fair that this woman has to take responsibility for this child on her own?

frugallass

JOHNSTONE1 wrote: »

I was interseted to know whether people think that its right to claim CSA for a child that the supposed parent didnt even know existed for 7 years, knows nothing about and will never get to know. We all know that babies are easily made and any man is responsible for his action in that sense but not know anything about the mother, not have any relationship it just all seems wrong to me

a father is a father at the end of the day - whether he willingly created that child or whether it was a drunken one night stand

as stated before, it could be just another one of the massive CSA errors

good luck

lauren_1

It not uncommon for the CSA to take years to track someone down, does he have a very common name?

It may be that he had a one night stand and cannot remember her name, he may be the wrong guy or he may have knew and been hiding it the whole time. He needs a DNA test asap.

JOHNSTONE1

yes it is quite a commen name not quite smith bt definitely not unusual. They contact him at the address at the barracks i gave for him when i applied for CSA. He got a form through regarding me then about a week later a form regarding this other child. He phoned up and disputed it as he hadnt heard of her and said he would arrange to do a DNA test. He was going through a very difficult time before this and was under a lot of stress with out break up and loads of debt he went awol and was diognosed with depression. Therefore the DNA test didnt happen and they then went ahead with a deduction of earnings.

The CSA have said she put the claim in after me, seven years after this chikd was born. His parents have always lived in the same address and no one has ever gone there everyone knows everyones business where he lives and theres never been any mention of this woman or child.

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