CSA cannot contact ex - help!

mrsspendalot

Hi

I have given CSA every scrap of information I can, and my ex has avoided their phone calls and has not replied to the MEF which was sent out on 11th May. They have phoned me today and said that unless I can provide any further information to help find him they will close the case as another trace will return nothing else and will come out at a NIL assessment.

I'm fuming! He is purposely avoiding his calls, and at this rate he will successful in avoiding and escaping any liability.

Can this be right?

Since my call to the CSA, he has actually txt me to tell me he can't have the kids today because he now has a job. He won't tell me where. Will this be enough for them to do another trace shortly to pick up where his National Insurance number is traced to?

Thanks in advance

markeymark

only be enough as long as he is paying national insurance and not doing cash in hand, have u quizzed him about why he is avoiding paying maintenance?? is he defo getting there letters etc

missmontana

He's never answered one of their phone calls? And then he has the cheek to text you?
Do your best to find out where his new job is, is there anyway you could get number so they could then call him at his workplace?
You must feel like banging your head against a wall.... I feel your frustration!:mad:
I'm sure there must be more they can do if someone doesn't answer their phone or reply to a letter.

mrsspendalot

Hi

He doesn't want to give me any money and doesn't think I should be asking him for any because "he can't give me what he can't afford". He actually asked for CSA involvement, so that is the route I took it down, waiting patiently from February until April in the hope that in the meantime he would come round and sort out another private arrangement (we had one that worked fine for 2 years before all of this!).

He won't tell me where he is working says "does it really matter where, as long as I have a job". I'm trying a slightly different angle to get the info, so we'll see how far I get with that. All he has told me is that he is working shifts in a factory.

I did ring the CSA back with the info and the woman I got on the phone was lovely - very understanding and gave me a little more reassurance. She said she was going to contact my caseworker and advise a default maintenance decision until he provided income details and then perhaps it would go to criminal compliance or court for a liability order. She even said they would send someone round to his address to try and get the information from him that way.

I guess I'll just have to sit back and wait now.

It is very frustrating and I do feel I'm banging my head against a wall.

What has really got me is that he has just cost me at least £200 in solicitors fees after sending me a letter ordering me to reinstate contact - even though no contact had ever been denied, and it was in fact he who didn't turn up to collect the kids on 2 separate occasions! He got legal aid for his fees, I didn't qualify and had to pay the bill myself! More money taken away from the kids and so unnecessary. I don't understand why he is doing this now, we had the most amicable divorce and the past 2 years have been fine up until this year.

mrsspendalot

markeymark wrote: »

only be enough as long as he is paying national insurance and not doing cash in hand, have u quizzed him about why he is avoiding paying maintenance?? is he defo getting there letters etc

I can't ask him about maintenance, apparently that is me "thinking of my pocket and not my kids". So I have made a conscious decision to not mention money at all and let the CSA do the chasing.

I did ask him if they had been in touch and he said no, then the very next day they rang me to say that had tried to call him numerous times and sent mailings out and received no response. I know the phone number they have is correct as he is still texting me from it up to today. I know the address is correct as it is confirmed in solicitors paperwork, plus it has been his address since we separated - it is his parents address and he has even confirmed to me today that he is still there.

Soubrette

Sometimes I think the CSA have two different depts - if you are a PWC you get shoved to the NRPs are the best dept and if you are an NRP you get lumbered with the PWCs are the best dept.

Each dept treats their customers like utter rubbish of course.

There have certainly been cases on this board where NRPs (or even claimed NRPs) have had letters sent to their last known address and even though they have not responded, have had arrears backdated to the date of the letter sent as it was sent to a trusted address.

Ask the CSA if they still deal with trusted addresses and if they do, what would make an address a trusted one.

Good luck

Sou

mrsspendalot

Soubrette wrote: »

There have certainly been cases on this board where NRPs (or even claimed NRPs) have had letters sent to their last known address and even though they have not responded, have had arrears backdated to the date of the letter sent as it was sent to a trusted address.

Ask the CSA if they still deal with trusted addresses and if they do, what would make an address a trusted one.

Good luck

Sou

They said the address they sent it to was one of which they were "very confident" was correct, and this afternoon they confirmed to me which address they sent the forms to, and it is the same address detailed in the solicitors letter at which he has confirmed he has the children for contact overnight at weekends. They asked if there were any other addresses they could try and the only other one I said would be possible would be his girlfriend's address. He will be dodging letters at his parents address as he has been living there for the past year without declaring it, which would have messed up his parents benefit entitlement as he was in full time work at the time. Now he is in work again, he will not want to rock the boat, although he will have claimed JSA at that address in between times (and the CSA confirmed they checked his JSA record and he had claimed in March). I guess they are so sure of the address because it probably matches up with his JSA claim!

I was told last week that 11th May is when the MEF went to that address and as they were so sure of that being the correct address, he would not be able to argue that he had not received the letter, and that 11th May would be the date his liability started.

I thought that once the date was set, it would be set. I was just a bit taken aback today to learn that they may simply close the case down because they can't get a resoonse from him. I feel a little better after my 2nd phone call to them though talking about default decisions and criminal compliance.

sunlight

The effective date will be from the date he receives the MEF. If his parents address is confident then it will be backdated to the date it was sent there, Ask them to resend MEF recorded delivery, the parents may get annoyed with this and prompt your ex to get in touch.
You say he came of bens in March, I trace via the tax can not be done for 12 weeks after that date as tax payments will not show until then, thats if it is not cash in hand but I would imagine if it is shift work in a factory it will be legit.
A DMD would be set at approx £30.00 pw but it will have to be after a trace is done.
Is his name on the birth cert?

mrsspendalot

sunlight wrote: »

The effective date will be from the date he receives the MEF. If his parents address is confident then it will be backdated to the date it was sent there, Ask them to resend MEF recorded delivery, the parents may get annoyed with this and prompt your ex to get in touch.
You say he came of bens in March, I trace via the tax can not be done for 12 weeks after that date as tax payments will not show until then, thats if it is not cash in hand but I would imagine if it is shift work in a factory it will be legit.
A DMD would be set at approx £30.00 pw but it will have to be after a trace is done.
Is his name on the birth cert?

Yes, that's what I was told last week about the MEF date. TBH, his parents won't be bothered by it, they will protect him as they have done for all the weeks that have passed that he hasn't supported his children. The lady this afternoon said the DMD would be £40 as it is for 2 children. They have already done one trace, will I have to wait whilst they do another? She did say that Inland Revenue can take up to 3 months to update their records when someone starts work for an employer, so at least it sounds like I was given very good information this afternoon. Yes, his name is on both birth certificates (2 sons) as we were married at the time.

missmontana

What a disgrace by the grandparents, they are denying their own flesh and blood... obviously where he gets it from.

The recorded delivery is a good idea, somebody will have to sign for it then.

alwayspuzzled

Problem is CSA seem to claim they are doing things they are blatently not. My OH was advised by CSA not to make any more payments till all 'issues' sorted out, but PWC sent ranting txt saying CSA say they have sent numourous letters and made uncountable number of phone calls to which he wasn't responding, she went on to list all the sanctions they were going to take, so we phoned the CSA who checked their records and confirmed they did have correct address & number on file and hadn't tried to contact. Not sure if they lied to her to fob her off or if it was just her trying to wind things up, but she was VERY insistant that was what they said.

From others stories on here I really feel that the CSA helpline people just tell you what you want to hear to get rid of you:mad: