Child Maintenance (CSA) questions (merged)

auntie_pie

cheers for that offer kelloggs36! will now try and work out how to 'pm' you!!:T :T :T

shelovestobuystuff

Does anyone have experience of getting child maintenance arrears paid after the child is 16.My son is 16 so child maintenance will stop as he is not in school now but there is still almost £10,000 in arrears unpaid as his father moved jobs to avoid the deduction from earnings orders for a period of nearly 7 years.Does anyone know of any similar cases or perhaps if my son will be legally entitled to chase this up himself.

Fran

Out of interest MSE now has a board specifically for CSA questions:

Child Support.

If you think it would be useful to have this thread moved there, please contact the Boardguides.

auntie_pie

hi shelovestobuystuff.... well i posted earlier that my case has been ongoing since the csa started in93'... and the arrears that we are waiting for are over 40 grand!!!! they're havin' a larf, surely!!!! am gonna pm kellogs36 on it, but as i understand it, once the arrears are there, then they cannot just be written off. although they have moved the goalposts slightly in that the arrears can now be reduced (although i think this is a recent thing) if the absent father can prove his earnings back to 1993. it all added up to such a vast sum as he never gave them any earnings details.
so maybe a reduction is possible,but not a total write off.
hope this helps!! perhaps i should get !!!! in gear and sort mine out!!

shelovestobuystuff

Thanks for that auntie pie.Hope you have success soon!My case in similar as far as the working out of arrears in concerned because these are based on an interim amount made without any wages info as he withheld that info.I have seen that a reduction can be backdated if the wages info is provided too.I hope if mine is reduced its not by too much though because like alot of other cases I have read here he stopped overtime and got the pay office to delay his bonuses for a few months while he saved up enough pay slips at low wage amounts to ensure the maintenance award was low.He even tried to get the maintenance stopped last year because he thought my son was 16(he was actually still only 14 at the time)doesnt even know how old his own son is!
Anyway,enough bitterness,whatever my son manages to get eventually in arrears will hopefully be enough for him to start up a small business.At least thats one good thing he got from his father, his entreupenurial spirit, oh and the gift of the gab.

kelloggs36

Unless he provides the details in order to convert the Interim Maintenance Assessment to a Full Maintenance Assessment then the arrears will stand and they can take normal enforcement action to recover it. If you know where he works, then they can set up a DEO to recover it direct from his wages, or they can seize bank contents from single accounts, they can send in the Bailiffs, they can put charging orders on houses and then sell them once they have been granted, but you need to be on the CSA's back constantly asking them what action they are taking - or intend to take next. I always ask what the next step is before they take it, so I can go back to them if they fail to take the action, and demand that they do what they say they are going to do.

shelovestobuystuff

The charging order thing would be great as he is also a private landlord as well as having a full time job,with 4 flats last I heard.I dont think the CSA can do this in Scotland though.I am still worried that when the maintenance payments end the arrears will just dissappear.There is already a wages arrestment for the £32 a week maintenance which we have been getting for the last 3 years, guess he got fed up moving jobs to escape from the CSA,and they also take about £40 a month towards the arrears.The properties are all in his new wifes name so no chance there anyway I suppose?

aMeLia'S~MuMMY

shelovestobuystuff wrote: »

.I am still worried that when the maintenance payments end the arrears will just dissappear.

The arrears will not just dissappear, this money is regular maintenance that has not been paid to you when due, therefore ~ although not paid when it should have been it is still due to you for your child.

Once your regular maintenance stops there is no reason why the CSA cannot still take the same money (the reg ma and arrears amount) from your ex just as the arrears amount . don't just accept £10 a week ~ like is being paid now as it is going to take nearly 20 years to pay it off, the CSA should be looking at getting these arrears paid off in a reasonable time and that is not reasonable.

:A

janiegs

auntie_pie wrote: »

hi shelovestobuystuff.... well i posted earlier that my case has been ongoing since the csa started in93'... and the arrears that we are waiting for are over 40 grand!!!! they're havin' a larf, surely!!!! am gonna pm kellogs36 on it, but as i understand it, once the arrears are there, then they cannot just be written off. although they have moved the goalposts slightly in that the arrears can now be reduced (although i think this is a recent thing) if the absent father can prove his earnings back to 1993. it all added up to such a vast sum as he never gave them any earnings details.
so maybe a reduction is possible,but not a total write off.
hope this helps!! perhaps i should get !!!! in gear and sort mine out!!

It's not a recent thing. Anyone who has an interim maintenance order has always been able to have their arrears reset at the amount that they should have been paying when they provide their correct details.

janiegs

aMeLia'S~MuMMY wrote: »

The arrears will not just dissappear, this money is regular maintenance that has not been paid to you when due, therefore ~ although not paid when it should have been it is still due to you for your child.

Once your regular maintenance stops there is no reason why the CSA cannot still take the same money (the reg ma and arrears amount) from your ex just as the arrears amount . don't just accept £10 a week ~ like is being paid now as it is going to take nearly 20 years to pay it off, the CSA should be looking at getting these arrears paid off in a reasonable time and that is not reasonable.

:A

Absolutely correct. If there is no longer a child to support then there is no good reason why the same payments previously made as maintenance plus arrears cannot continue to be made as payments to the arrears.