CSA in Australia

injaroc

We're currently having some difficulties with the CSA in Australia and wondered if anyone had any experiences with them?

They currently have an assesment open for my OH for his children who moved to Oz with their mother. We're finding it very difficult to show them that my husband wasn't working and not in receipt of any taxable benefits during a certain period because he obviously doent have a P45 and no need for a tax return. And because of this they've assesed an "average Australian wage" to him for this period which is obviously completely wrong. Any idea how we can prove a negative as it were?

We have no problems with paying for the children of course we're trying to figure out if maybe the CSA here could take over taking payments from us? It's £14 to make a bank transfer to them and the same to get a cheque made out in their currency but that's all they'll accept from us. Are there any other options anyone could recommend? Because of this we're being charged a late payment fee from them. ( I didnt even know CSA charged late payment fees)

Any advice would be extremely gratefully received. We just want to be able to pay easily what my OH owes but its such a struggle to get through to them.

Thank you

AnxiousMum

What CSA do here, and what the Australian CSA do can be totally different - if they have the same name, that is coincidental.

Instead of providing a tax return, you need to provide a copy of the P60 at year end. Australian residents complete and file an income tax every year (June if I recall correctly), and because that is what Australians do, that is what the equivalent of the Australian CSA would ask for.

If your husband wants to do this properly, and get a reassessment based on his low income, he needs to file for a variation of child support through REMO. This is applied for at your Magistrates Court, when I did it the cost was about £180, but if he's on low income, then he should get it for free.

As for the bank transfers, my ex (well when he was paying anyways) wired the money to my bank account. There is a $15 charge on his end for making the wire transfer, and a £7 charge from my bank - I had agreed to absorb these charges, as it was me who moved with the children.

I'm not sure on what the guidelines are in Australia specifically, but I believe them to be handled much the same was as enforcement in Canada - and they get their money.

A couple of questions:

Was this order made via the REMO process? I don't see how an Australian order is actually enforcable here in the UK, as they do not have jurisdiction over the UK courts. I would seriously suggest he gets his own order in place, and while he's at it, he can get an order also through the Magistrates Court, to enforce access to the children - whether it's that he goes out to see them, they meet up somewhere, or they come here.

You need to find out if the order that is in place is actually even enforceable in the UK, but at least get one in place that is fair to all parties involved.

ETA: Forgot to ask - did you ever have a court appearance here in the UK to make the Australian order enforcable? Through REMO, the applicant appears in court in their own country, a provisional order is then made. The provisional order is then sent to a court in the recipient's country, and they have their day in court as well. The provisional order is then either registered and becomes enforceable in both countries, or rejected based on information provided by the recipient, and goes back to court in the originating country.

injaroc

Hi thank you for answering.
With regards to the REMO thing, I've looked it up and it doesnt seem to be.

We were paying into the mothers UK bank account as she had asked for but then we received a letter from the CSA about it so we stopped paying her directly. The first letter asked for his P60 for the last 6 years ( we have sent them 3 years worth and a P45 from last year - he finished work before the end of the tax year so didnt get a P60 or JSA as I was working) the letters since have basically been just invoices for the maintenance plus late payment charges with a payment slip at the bottom. We havent had any court letters or anything.

If he were to go to the CSA here as a NRP do you think they'd be able to help us get it sorted out?

AnxiousMum

The CSA here isn't the right place to deal - as they only deal with claims within the UK, or where one of the parents is posted overseas but works for a British company or the services, and payroll is done here in the UK.

Who made the order that you are now getting bills and late payment charges for? Was it the CSA here or the Australian CSA?

AnxiousMum

http://www.csa.gov.au/FAQs/Question.aspx?3a+Nbuq02dKT5VECipklomNAcOOabv8nUpVQ0bkQLWKYBteXKCY+FD+j2ka4rLVJN6kaoGOAfd4pcC9HxIVQ5Ed3B8o+MZjI9+4gj95XF9E=

I'm sure you've looked at the website for the Australian CSA - on the page above, they mention how they do not have the power to collect overseas, but may transfer the case to the overseas jurisdiction to assist with enforcement. I would certainly be getting it dealt with by applying yourselves here, for an order that is based fairly on your husband's income level.

injaroc

Ah right I see.

It's the Australian CSA that are sending the letters to us but we've never had any court documents from here or from there so can only assume nothing has been through a court. The letters are headed "child support account statement"

We've tried calling and e-mailing them but they seem to take forever to respond and when they do they dont seem to listen or understand what we're trying to tell them or basically just ignore us.

Will have a look into the REMO thing in more detail but this is the first time I've heard of it to be honest. It all seems so much more complicated that I thought it would be.

Thank you for your replies I'm finding it all a bit alien really as in th past we've either paid her through the UK CSA (when she still lived here) or direct to her.


Edit: yes Ive had a look at their csa pages when i was trying to figure out how much we should be paying them. Will try contacting them again I just feel like im going round in circles with them. I was kind of hoping for them to transfer it over here really to make our life easier.

Once again ty for your advice

AnxiousMum

You're welcome The only drawback I see with it being transferred over here, is that it may just be enforced, rather than giving you a day in court. When you get in touch with them, you may want to see if they do this through REMO - getting a provisional order there, then sending it here for enforcement through the courts (whereby you get a day in court), or if it is just automatically enforced. I cannot imagine that, as I'm sure that the courts here would give you your chance to reply. But, then you might get caught up in arrears, and if they are based on incorrect figures, then that's not really fair to you and your husband. If you get the REMO case going, they cannot then start one, as there could only be one REMO application at a time. But by you starting it, you get to submit your documentation, and get the figures right - which will then go to a court in Australia, who will basically verify the information and make an order. The whole process can take a while, so better to get started before they do and eliminate a huge amount of arrears.

In the meantime, figure out what your payments would be and either send that amount to her (International postal/money orders?) marked clearly as child support for NAME OF CHILD for MONTH OF XXXXXX. If she cashes them, you could have it assumed in court that she has agreed to this as child support and that the amount is correct (especially if she does not object).

In terms of time, you need to submit your paperwork to the Magistrates court, they then send a copy of the filed documentation to the other party, and the other party has 30 or 45 days to respond with their 'defense'. A court date here is then set up (mine was three months down the road). You go to your hearing date, they made my provisional order that day. Paperwork was sent to me, and to the reciprocating court as well as the other parent, and the other court then set a court date (was in Canada and was six months). A hearing was held, order made in accordance with the provisional order. So the whole thing took a year, but it was very straight forward, as I had agreed to things like bank charges etc.

In terms of custody - check out the new airline Air Asia X - they have great deals via Kuala Lumpur - so you have to take your own food, or buy one on board........but their airfares are great.

injaroc

The thank button no longer seems to be here so a big thank you really for takign the time to help. Showed the thread to OH and he said "what a nice woman"

Seems I have some things to be getting on with then so off to get all our paperwork together.

xxx

AnxiousMum

LOL - no problem I'm actually a parent with custody that has gone through REMO in order to GET child maintenance enforced in Canada - but while I'm 'on the other side', I truly believe that child support should be fair to both parents, not leaving one with nothing, and most of all, fair to the child in knowing that both parents are contributing according to their incomes. Good luck - feel free to PM if you wish, I may be able to get some advice from my sister down there who is a social worker working mainly with single parent families - she may have some useful info too