Should I go to the CSA?

sally99

Hi there,

My ex has been paying me £25 pw hit and miss for the last 7 years for our 11 year old. Over the last few months it has been like getting blood out of a stone but I have been very patient. Last week he came to pick up our child ( he has free access and our maintenance arrangement is private) and informed me that he wasn't going to pay me any more, he was going to buy clothes for our child instead as and when needed.

Our agreement when we split was that he would pay the weekly money and buy clothes as needed. I told him whether he is buying clothes or not he should stil be giving me a weekly amount, and in 7 years I have never had an increase in the weekly amount because I didn't want to rock the boat or cause stress to our child.

He is self employed, married with a young child, receives tax credits, but also has a couple of other business interests and owns 2 properties in addition to where he lives. I belive one of the other properties is mortgaged and one is paid for fully in cash, these are sometimes let, sometimes empty.

So I have decided to see how he performs over the next few weeks, see if he changes his attitude, but if not, should I go to the CSA and what will they do? I don't care if if takes ages to get what is owed for my child, but I do not think he should be so arrogant to think he can get away with just stopping payments. I have done a bit of reading and think if he has property worth over a certain amount then it can be sold or a charge put on it but I am not sure how this works in reality, any advice would be greatly appreciated. thankyou.

cte1111

I was in a similar situation and went to the CSA. They have been very inefficient and it is hard work chasing them, but at least I have had some money.

The most likely problem with your ex is as he is self-employed, he may be able to represent his income as being very low and therefore only pay you a small amount. I'm not sure about charges on property etc, I would have thought that was very much a last resort.

But I agree with you, why should he be able to just decide to stop contributing towards his child? Kick the process off and call the CSA today. Good luck, I hope you manage to get somewhere in the end.

sally99

thanks for that, I don't think that he has thoroughly thought through the implications of stopping payment. I have even offered to write off the last 3 weeks non payment and start afresh from today but as yet had no response. I think that if his income is low, it will be being made up with WTC which I think is taken into account as income when assessing a payment. If he had no property I think I would be onto a loser but with the assets he has, who knows? thanks for your support :-)

Zara33

sally99 wrote: »

So I have decided to see how he performs over the next few weeks, see if he changes his attitude, but if not, should I go to the CSA and what will they do? I don't care if if takes ages to get what is owed for my child, but I do not think he should be so arrogant to think he can get away with just stopping payments. I have done a bit of reading and think if he has property worth over a certain amount then it can be sold or a charge put on it but I am not sure how this works in reality, any advice would be greatly appreciated. thankyou.

The part in bold i think your jumping ahead of yourself if i'm honest. Contact the CSA, but remember you will only get maintenance from the day they contact him. As he has another child in his household this will also be taken into consideration.

sally99

Yes I know I am looking ahead, but thinking he will take years to pay, and he owns 2 properties besides the one he lives in! I just have visions of it getting that far, but miracles do happen!

Zara33

sally99 wrote: »

Yes I know I am looking ahead, but thinking he will take years to pay, and he owns 2 properties besides the one he lives in! I just have visions of it getting that far, but miracles do happen!

You never know, he might realise he has more to loose by not paying child support.

hundredk

If he's gone back on the private arrangement and says you will get £0 off him then nothing to lose going to CSA except the clothes he buys. Tell him if he stops the money you will go to CSA and he might realise he is better off keeping things informal...

Zara33

hundredk wrote: »

If he's gone back on the private arrangement and says you will get £0 off him then nothing to lose going to CSA except the clothes he buys. Tell him if he stops the money you will go to CSA and he might realise he is better off keeping things informal...

I think there has to be some sort of formal agreement, maybe not using the CSA but something similiar. As the OP has stated he paid £25 per week for seven years, surely she is due an increase.

hundredk

Zara33 wrote: »

I think there has to be some sort of formal agreement, maybe not using the CSA but something similiar. As the OP has stated he paid £25 per week for seven years, surely she is due an increase.

Op said maintenance arrangement is private which I read as a mutual agreement. As you say this could still have been formalised via solicitor, in which case would it not be enforcable?

Op implied ex has a few quid in which case £25/week is a good deal for him. Add seven years inflation and it's still only £30/week or £1500/year
max + a few clothes. Thats a good deal for him, I would have thought and probably so would he.

OP - Threaten to CSA him if he doesn't pay up.

butlinsmum

sally99 if he is so hit and miss I would stop hanging on and get the CSA involved. I am not sure why you are being patient with somebody who is shirking his responsibilities - I would be mad and have set them on him years ago. Agreed trying to get money off someone that is self employed is more problematic but the CSA have powers to check what he is declaring to the Inland Revenue to see if the figures match up!

My own case took ages to resolve but ex has had to pay more than he offered when we tried to agree it mutually & at least it is paid just about on time every month. Good luck what ever you decide to do

butlinsmum x

sally99

thank you so much for all your replies and good advice. I know full well he has been getting a really good deal for the last few years, there have been times when I have approached him for an increase and have been met with 'you must be joking' and 'yeah right'. I have not rocked the boat for a few reasons, firstly the money up until a few months ago has been at least regular, and he has been reliable in respect of picking our child up from school on the days I work. The main reason I suppose is that whenever I feel grief coming on between me and my ex, I always stop and think 'how will this or that affect our child'. If the answer is that it will be a negative effect then I tend to put up and shut up. I feel that considering we split up, that mainly down to my efforts, our child has a really good relationship with dad and family and I have always been of the mind that unless domestic violence is an issue (which it never was) that a child has a fundamental right to a relationship with the father.

However he has become unreliable over the last few months in respect of spending time with our child, and with the payments and as time rolls on, said child is starting to see that Daddy is unreliable and less than perfect. Now that he has said he is not paying me any more money full stop, I think my patience has run out and it is time for action. He has said in the past if I were to ever go the CSA route I would never get a penny out of him but I just don't think he comprehends that he will prob end up paying more in the long run and I have tried to explain this to him. He has vehicles that he uses for his business interests plastered with his phone number and details, and is running an ebay business too, which also has a registered address, plus the properties I mentioned earlier. I know that if I go to the CSA, he will deny he does anything other than a bit of driving, and will not declare any other property other than the one he lives in, so I have proof already of the other stuff that I can let them have. I imagine this could also impact on his tax credits claim, but again he will not have thought that far ahead.

Sorry for super long post and thanks again for your help

xxx