CSA court orders and Support

matteus

I got a nice surprise in my wage the other day. The CSA had issued a court order and took £406 off me.
As you can guess I was a wee bit annoyed over this as I'm now behind on my utility bills and HP's because I was left with nothing. But I've now been informed by my Pay Office that this is going to be an ongoing issue.

The reason I'm annoyed is that the CSA haven't co-operated with me what-so-ever.
They sent me a letter following a phone call in November stating that I would be paying £187 a month and they would be sending me forms to fill out with regards to my outgoings, etc.
Since then I have contacted them and I'm still waiting for these forms to appear.

Now, two months down the line I find out that they issued a court order and took money no where near the sum they said I would be paying leaving broke. My pay office stated that I should have been informed and I haven't.
I contacted them last night and they state that all paperwork including the letter warning of the court order had been posted, but I've not received anything.

What can I do as they just didn't seem to care and they claim the £406 was right and all the correspondence had been sent. I even have joint custody of my child three days a week. Wouldn't that count for something?

At the end of day I'm supporting my child 110%. I've been paying my ex child support since she walked out on me two years ago and I'm even paying the nursery fees too. But she thought £200 a month on top of the nursery fees wasn't enough to support my child, so she took matters to the CSA.

Also, with me having my child three and sometimes four times a week. Do I qualify for any type of financial support. As I'm receiving nothing and my ex is bleeding me dry.

Thanks.

maggied_2

Hi Matteus

DO you know if you're on CSA1 or CSA2?

Do you have a court order saying you have to pay the nursery fees? If not, and it is causing you financial hardship and you're on CSA2 I would stop paying them straightaway as CSA doesn't take those sorts of payments into account.

shell_542

maggied wrote: »

Hi Matteus

DO you know if you're on CSA1 or CSA2?

Do you have a court order saying you have to pay the nursery fees? If not, and it is causing you financial hardship and you're on CSA2 I would stop paying them straightaway as CSA doesn't take those sorts of payments into account.

I kind of agree with this , I was going to suggest though (if the paying the nursery fees is not in a court order) telling your ex that she has a choice. You continue with the CSA payments and stop paying the nursery fees or she stops the CSA case and things go back to how they were. If she'll be worse off on just the CSA amount ... which sounds likely ... she might have a brain wave and stop.

You can tell her, that she may be getting £400 off of you a month at the moment, but this is most likely arrears and will be cleared off soon and then she will get £187 a month and no nursery fees.

Firstly, did you check that the CSA have your address recorded correctly?

You then need to find out where they have come up with this figure of £406. Most likely, you will have accrued arrears of £187 a month from the day they first tried to contact you and they are reclaiming them back in the shortest period of time. You need to make a complaint and ask for the arrears to be collected over a longer period of time. When it suits them, they use 2 years to spread the arrears over. If you get no where with them, contact your local MP and ask for their help. They might get more done than you alone.

PLUS they can only take a maximum of 40% of your net earnings out of wages. Did your employer deduct more than 40%?

shell_542

matteus wrote: »

Also, with me having my child three and sometimes four times a week. Do I qualify for any type of financial support. As I'm receiving nothing and my ex is bleeding me dry.

Thanks.

Unfortunately the simple answer to this is no. The parent receiving the child benefit is the only person who can claim benefits/support with regards to the child.

Another thing to check, have the CSA factored in that you have your child 3 nights a week? The amount you have to pay reduces with the more nights the child stays with you. If you've filled no forms in, they might not be taking into account that you have the child overnight ... or maybe not to the extent you do as they take the Parent With Care (ie your ex's) word as gospel.

Have you had a look on the CSA website, on their online calculator, to make sure the amount of £187 a month is taking into account all factors?

Blob

If you have the children for 4 nights a week that makes you the PWC so she should be paying you not the other way round!

shell_542

Blob wrote: »

If you have the children for 4 nights a week that makes you the PWC so she should be paying you not the other way round!

If it's sometimes 3 and sometimes 4 then it's pretty much 50/50 and if the PWC wont give up the child benefit, the OP will struggle to get it awarded to him and therefore wont get child maintenance.

Blob

Then it should be for the Court to decide, that is what they are for though the CSA have a fundermental problem in accepting the juristiction on the Courts! If the Court said that the CB has to be transfered to the other parent then that would happen and there is dam all that anyone can do about it!

shell_542

Blob wrote: »

Then it should be for the Court to decide, that is what they are for though the CSA have a fundermental problem in accepting the juristiction on the Courts! If the Court said that the CB has to be transfered to the other parent then that would happen and there is dam all that anyone can do about it!

That sounds plausible when there is a clear distinction between who has majority of care, but in the OP's case, some weeks his ex does. He didn't say he has his child 4 days a week every week.

Blob

However there is from what is stated an arguable case for him.