Double the fun - Part 1

Yorksman_2

Hi everybody, having spent a couple of weeks reading the posts on this site, I joined in the hope someone could give me some advice. It's quite a long and complicated scenario as my issue involves the CSA both as an NRP but also on behalf of PWC 2 because she is having some serious problems. As such, I will split my issue into 2 posts to avoid confusion and will start with PWC 2's problem first.

I separated from PWC 2 18 months ago, it was a very amicable split in the fact we just grew apart rather than at each others throats. Between me and PWC 2 there were 3 children, 2 boys from her previous relationship and 1 daughter between us. She moved with the boys a few hundred miles to be with me and has stayed up here rather than moving back so that I can be around my daughter. As such, we get on really well as friends and always supported each other through the good and bad.

The boys father however, has been a major disruption for the past 7 years. We have had disruptions such as Social Services turning up, RSPCA turning up, DVLA writing to inform my ex that they have been informed she should not be driving due to medical conditions she does not have, and perhaps the lowest was cancelling the boys passports less than a week before we were due to go on holiday, meaning we had to cancel after saving up for 2 years.

Maintenance has always been an issue with him too. In the begining it was fine, he would pay direct and while his timekeeping as far as payments were concerned left a lot to be desired, it would lead to arguments and he would eventually pay. Payment wasn't an issue at that time but more the fact my ex couldn't set up direct debits for bills because she could never be sure that there would be money to pay it. At the time, I was also paying privately for my other daughter and my salary covered the essential bills such as the mortgage, gas and electricity.

Problems started occurring when her ex would deposit £12 for the boys. At the time he was on a £30k a year job, married and enjoying 3 holidays a year in Egypt and Florida. Again, that was non of our concern but the money was as my ex began getting bank charges due to the varying money going in. When asked about this her ex would say that when he had the boys he took them to McDonalds so was deducting money for buying them food and also the petrol for taking them there. When she tried to argue this, he told her that if she wasn't happy then he wasn't paying anything. Reluctantly my ex contacted CSA because all she wanted was to know there was a set amount going in each month at a set time. She wasn't bothered about the amount, just wanted consistency.

That's when the problems really started. CSA weren't the best at dealing with the case but were not all at fault for what happened over the next few years. They did an assessment and he agreed to pay them directly each month. He did that but he would always make sure the money was 1p or 2p over the correct amount so as to cause havoc on the system. As a result, he could argue that he had paid the money but CSA had to sort out the mess before my ex recieved anything so payments were often a couple of months late. Towards the end, he stopped paying altogether and built up a bit of arrears.

Next he went through the courts for a contact order. My ex, never denied him access to the children but this came about because the boys, aged 8 and 5 at the time were terrified of going to their dads. When asked, it was down to things like on a Sunday, he would take his wife out for dinner and leave the boys sat in the car with a packet of crisps to share. He would tell them that because that it was up to their mum to provide money for food as that is what he pays her for. Needless to say, even in court she still did not deny him access to the children but brought up her concerns for which the judge agreed. An interim order was put in place but he did his best to mess around with it, on one trip to court telling the judge that my ex kept changing the dates he could have the children and that he would drive 100 miles to be told he couldn't see his boys. This never happened but what did happen was one night he sent a text message to say he was working away and wouldn't be having the boys that weekend. He then turned up at 1am demanding to take the boys with him. The text message was shown to the judge who agreed he was being disruptive. When he realised he couldn't win he stopped seeing the boys altogether and on the final interim hearing, the judge awarded full custody to my ex, even stating that her ex showed no concern for the boys and appeared to just be out for pure selfish gain and disruption.

He then went self employed as a Driving instructor and told CSA he was only earning £5k a year. His aunt is his accountant so it is pretty much kept in the family. Needless to say this has not stopped him buying a brand new house, 2 new cars for him and his wife and now taking 5 holidays a year. The boys still have contact with their grandmother who lives 5 doors away from their father but when they do visit, they are lucky if they see him once.

Last year he made contact again offering to pay £50 a month for the 2 boys providing CSA were stopped or my ex would get nothing at all. She did contact them to tell them of the arrangement but left the case open due to him being unreliable. That continued till about 4 months ago when the money started changing again. He then opted for paying for other things for the boys which would have been a relief if he had.

The eldest boy was due to go on a school trip next year but the school needed a deposit of £30 tomorrow. At the start of the week he offered to pay it and the eldest boy was really happy about that. My ex has pretty much nothing left this month with Xmas and the fact 2 of the childrens birthdays fall this month too. As of tonight, he still hadn't paid anything so she sent him a text just asking if it is possible to transfer the money as he needs to take it to school in the morning. He got nasty over everything and has now refused to give her anything for the boys. He then sent a text to say that she should try going back to CSA because they will give her nothing too. Usually at this stage, I would have stepped in and helped out as I treat the boys like my own, but the reasons why I am helpless right now I shall explain in the 2nd part.

He is definately living above his means, as far as his business goes, the only way he can be doing that is to transfer the money to another family member. It is not as though he isn't getting any business as each time the boys go down the reasons they don't see him is because he is either on an Egyptian cruise or he is far too busy with work. Personally, I have never met a driving instructor that works flat out and only earns £5k a year. The last time my ex queried this with CSA, she was told there was nothing she could do but I just wondered if that was false information or whether there is something she could do.

Like I say, this is not about the money but some consistency as far as the children are concerned. As an NRP, I would go to the ends of the earth for my daughters, infact that is what I am in the middle of right now in part 2. But in my circumstances, I am left helpless to support the 2 boys I have brought up for the largest part of their lives because their father didn't want to know and just wanted to make everybodys life miserable. Now that he is taunting, the only people he is hurting are his boys and that is upsetting both me and my ex. Her youngest doesn't care about him, he sees me as his father which is why even though we separated, I remain a large part of their lives. The eldest was at that age were he was old enough to see everything going on, he turns 13 next week so understands a lot more.

I have advised my ex to speak to CSA and see what they say, but I know if they say there isn't anything they can do it will destroy her. Can anyone offer any advice that could possibly help?

Thanks for listening

DX2

Yorksman wrote: »

He is definately living above his means, as far as his business goes, the only way he can be doing that is to transfer the money to another family member. It is not as though he isn't getting any business as each time the boys go down the reasons they don't see him is because he is either on an Egyptian cruise or he is far too busy with work. Personally, I have never met a driving instructor that works flat out and only earns £5k a year. The last time my ex queried this with CSA, she was told there was nothing she could do but I just wondered if that was false information or whether there is something she could do.

What factors might we take account of for parents with care?

If you are the parent with care, we might look at the amount of child maintenance again in the following circumstances:

If the non-resident parent controls their income and receives an income of more than £100 a week from a company or a business (for example, income received by company directors as dividends).
If the non-resident parent has reduced the amount of income that we can take account of by diverting it to someone else for another purpose, for example into a business.
If the non-resident parent seems to have a way of life associated with someone whose income is much higher than the income we used to work out child maintenance.
http://www.csa.gov.uk/en/setup/other-financial-commitments.asp

Keyword Variation

13Kent

If the non-resident parent seems to have a way of life associated with someone whose income is much higher than the income we used to work out child maintenance.

We tried a departure on these grounds - the PWC had the whole house re-decorated and renovated, inc new furniture, landscaped garden, new kitchen,bathroom the lot. Also regular foreign hols including Disney Florida.

All on the CSA's assessment of NIL income. Unfortunately it made no difference whatsoever.

Sorry I ca't offer anything more constructive.

DX2

Variation

A variation can happen when you ask us to take account of other factors – such as extra costs the non-resident parent has to pay to visit the child. We use variations in the current scheme. They replace the ‘departure directions’ we used in the old scheme. However, there are some important differences between variations and departure directions. Most of these refer to the rules about what factors we will take into account.

Departures

Departures allow us to take account of certain other factors when we work out child maintenance, such as extra costs the non-resident parent has to pay to visit the child.
Departure directions

We work out how much child maintenance should be paid using a standard calculation. Under the old scheme, departure directions allowed us to take account of certain other circumstances when we worked out child maintenance, and change the amount to be paid accordingly. Under the current scheme, departure directions do not exist but many of the same circumstances are covered by ‘variations’.

Yorksman_2

Thanks DX2, I shall be seeing her over the weekend so will be sure to raise the issue of variation. Like I said, it is not about the money but about having some consistency.

Just seems for most of the his sons lives he has chosen to do as he wishes. Which usually ends up in threats and doing things out of spite. The worst part is that his sons are the ones usually getting hurt because of his actions.

The best part though is as they get older and see what is going on, the only person it backfires on is himself. The ex has never been nasty about their father and she tells the children very little, they just see it themselves.

If it wasn't for the events of part 2, I would continue to support them myself as much as my own children. They were very little when I entered their lives so I do see them as my own. Sadly, the law does not take that into consideration whether rightly or wrongly.

DX2, we knew something was fishy when he justified his lifestyle by saying his wife earns just short of £60k a year so she pays for everything. Normally, again that would be no issue except for the fact she is only a CCTV operator. Now if they are paying that kind of money then I'm definately in the wrong job

I just have a gut instinct that he is diverting his income through her. Last time my ex raised a concern to CSA they said all they could do was look at his tax returns as he was self employed but could do nothing else. If there was grounds for a variation, wouldn't someone had mentioned it or is it something the PWC has to raise themselves? Another thing that was mentioned to my ex was that she would have to prove this was the case. is that still the case?

Thanks in advance for your help

LizzieS_2

She can appeal on diversion of income, but there are time limits - if gone passed the limits she can always ask for a new assessement to set the appeal ability again.

NACSA_CHAIR

That is the key to any departure/variation application - if the CSA make a decision that suggests the application was not successful, thats usually done in a bid to provide the client with the appeal rights. Appealling can often open up a much bigger platform for arguments, so always worthwhile exploring.