child support from someone going bankrupt?

georgecrow

hi wasnt sure which section to put this in and please excuse
poor spelling if any also i ramble a lot but hope im getting this across ok if anyone has time to read ,thanks
basically i had relationship with legal proffessional and found myself pregnant and now have beautiful daughter whom iwouldnt swap for anything,he however is a different story .from day one he has been of no support emotionally ,financially or otherwise .
he puts on facade of being dad oof the year but spends roughly half an hour of ooing and arring a week and hasnt given me a penny for her in 14 months of life . at the beginning he said if i needed anything to let him know etc btu he made such a big deal about it that even though im struggling on benefits i couldnt ask .he then said he puu £25pw in account for her and kept harping on about how it was buuilding up nicely etc and i thought i could pay it into her trustfund to top up what id managed to pay in etc and gett her room all warm and setup with better heating for the winter. i never liked to ask as dont want to viewed by anyone as looking for a mealticket .anyway just to point out this man earns in excess of 50000 a year has a fairy extravagant lifestyle and has a teenage child from a previous relationship that he he has smugly said couldnt get anything off him through csa as he is classed as self employed with a good accountant and when he does deem to givee them anything he all but makes an announcement in the times.
anyway i have had it pointed out to me several times least of all by the lady at my work focused interview that im being unfair not to ask for the cash for what it can do for my daughter so lately was building myself up to asking for it
he however told me 3 weeks ago that he owes inland revenue nearly £50000 as hasnt paid properly for years and has decided to go bankrupt to avoid having to do so ,i asked him about our daughters moneys which by now should be about £1500 for him to quite casually tell me hed spent it !no apologies nothing .
next time he came he said he was trying to sort some money ou for our daughter and wanted to open an account in her name to put money in before the bankrupcy papers were sorted -this didnt seem quite right to me so i said i didnt think he could legally open one for her and he should give it to me -he was quite cagey in his manner but agreed .
the next week he complained that he was getting paid too much and needed to get rid of several thousand pounds before he could go ahead with the bankrupcy and reeled off a list of things hed already spent on and asked if i needed anything -when i totted it up i realised he just wanted to palm us off with some expensive useless item instead of the money he owed her and he stressed that he cant be seen to be 'hiding' money as would lose his contract to practise with his chambers. i emailed back saying that i am allowed and entitled to £25pw for our daughter backpaid from birth without it effecting benefits as was advised by dhss and wouldnt be seen as hiding as legitimate payments
he said he would look into it
then he got paid more and still had £17000 outstanding which he kept saying his chambers had agreed to be signed over to then so he woyldnt lose it[which seems like hiding it to me]
so all in all he was paid several grand he seemed desperate to get rid of and a lot more to come ,he turned around again and said he signing it all over to his chambers and that if i needed anything specific he would help and he didnt want tto give me any money as it woult get me into trouble with benefits [he knows that isnt true] .
i told him i wasnt making it up and that would be all above board ,i am so angry and upset for my daughter that she hasnt even been an afterthought and has had nothing more than the odd pack of choc buttons and extra upset that he needed to offload all that cash and still gave none of what was owed to her -yet he still talks like a saint?
he has said now he will try and start to pay £25pw and then next sentance was about his chambers have had all his outstanding earning signed over to them so he wont lose any of it butu as this was earned before bankrupcy isnt this classed as hiding? i know he must think me terribly thick -my problem is im crap at confrontation but this all seems very wrong and unfair to me ?? i genuinely think as he bangs on about being honest etc that he isnt and that he was hoping to put cash in daughters name but only if he still had access to it?
sorry i realise i am quite pathetic but advise would be greatly appreciated

skibadee

Firstly...I'm sorry you have found yrself in this situation.
Secondly...even if he declares himself bankrupt or is made bankrupt he is still liable to pay maintenance and still liable for arrears ( maintenace paid through CSA cannot be bankrupted ) as I thik you are not claiming your maintenance through the CSA at the moment I doubt very much if you will ever get that money.
I would strongly suggest you contact CSA and put in a claim....for yr daughters sake.
Unfortunately it sounds as if NRP is very clever at hiding money....but give the CSA all the information you can including what you have put in your posting above.....going bankrupt DOES NOT stop maintenace being paid.

georgecrow

thanks for that skibadee,i will have to make enquiries -i realise im partly to blame
for not being more assertive about it but was torn between not wanting to give him satisfaction of asking
i guess . he didntt come with me for registration so his name isnt on birth certificate either so will have to talk to csa abot where
i stand ,many thanks -just nice to have reassrance that im not wrong

AnxiousMum

If I were struggling trying to provide financially for my child, and I had emails/texts with blatant attempts to hide income spelled out in them - sorry - I'd be filing with CSA immediately, and suggesting to the dad that he provide what he had promised for his daughter, or you would forward the information onto the OR claiming you are owed monies.

He's filing for bankruptcy and was bragging about how good his accountant was? If he's doing all this in an attempt to hide his money and avoid paying his debts in favour of bankruptcy - he should have his right to practice law stripped from him.

skibadee

AnxiousMum wrote: »

If I were struggling trying to provide financially for my child, and I had emails/texts with blatant attempts to hide income spelled out in them - sorry - I'd be filing with CSA immediately, and suggesting to the dad that he provide what he had promised for his daughter, or you would forward the information onto the OR claiming you are owed monies.

He's filing for bankruptcy and was bragging about how good his accountant was? If he's doing all this in an attempt to hide his money and avoid paying his debts in favour of bankruptcy - he should have his right to practice law stripped from him.

Absoluately agree 100%!!!

Kimitatsu

You need to make an application through the CSA today.

Maintenance payments are excluded from Bankruptcy proceedings so the Official Reciever will pay out the maintenance to the CSA first, then pay out his living expenses and anything that is left over will go to paying his creditors.

Do not accept any large gifts from him as the official reciever will look at his financial behaviour prior to his application for bankruptcy and will investigate any money being paid out favourably to one creditor over another. If they feel this is the case they have the right to come back to you and ask you to repay the money to the Official Reciever.

The CSA will look at his gross income for the last year and make an assessment on that - please make sure though that you ask them to include any dividends which he may be paid. IF they come back with a flat rate assessment of £5 a week then make an application for variation based on lifestyle inconsistent with income.

Please dont settle for a private arrangement as you wont get anything and it wont be able to be enforced - bear in mind that he could be discharged from his order in anything form 1 to 5 years and will be debt free, so dont feel sorry for him.

skylight

He is allowed to have an allowance for Maintainance/CSA payments listed on his income/outgoings to the amount and no more, of what the CSA would evaluate him at. It can be a private arrangement or the CSA arrangement. If he is as slimey as he sounds, then I can bet he will include the allowance anyway whether he pays you or not. Its important you stick with the CSA on this one.

And as mentioned, any prior to BR CSA debts are not included in his bankruptcy and he still has to pay those. Any verbal/private arrangement though can be included in BR unless you have a court order legally outlining what he should be paying so if he does go BR he will owe you/DD nothing as its not a CSA debt.

He will be discharged from his BR within 12 months maximum (Unless he has a BRO attached that keep his br Restrictions in place) If he has enough surplus then he will pay money into his BR in the form of an IPA for 3 years. If he is in the legal profession, then I reckon he is bluffing - he is likely to be struck off from his job if he goes BR; there are professional conduct guidelines members have to adhere to and he will know that. But I never like to call someones bluff!


He is only trying to cover himself and just himself and he is not attempting to help you at all. The CSA are likely to give you a tad more than £25pw. Don't let him walk over you anymore.

Round_The_Bend

All of the advice that I was going to give has already been posted, so just wanted to wish you good luck. I definitely agree with the advice of others to pursue the matter through the CSA. At the end of the day, what have you to lose? I can't understand his attitude though; if he has another child and earns around £50,000 per annum, his monthly child support payments to you should only be around £200. Aside from the moral issues, £200, per month, seems a small price to pay for not having to spend the rest of his life dodging the CSA, courts, debt collectors, etc.

georgecrow

thanks to all of you ,been very helpful and also boosted my confidence about whether im right to feel the way i do . i had a very long conversation with a lady a from child maintenance options on the phione yesterday . he had tried to give me the impression that his solicitor had said it would effect my benefits and yesterday i found out that april 2010 they changed it so child maintenance whatever your amount no longer effects them[[so he couldve been pang a lot more than £25 i thought was allowed anyway] -i realise his solicitor who specialises in these cases mustve known that which is very annoying. its difficult because he tries to keep up this facade of happy families and know he would be mortified if he knnew id discussed him like this but at my age i should snap out of the people taking advantage of my ability to suffer misplaced guilt and am in the process of getting all my info together to put claim in with csa before any doubt takes over . the lady i spoke to seemed to think the payments and that things arent worked out the way they used to be but im still a little doubtful i guess that being self emlpoyed he isnt going to be able to puut down 99% of it as expenses ,i guess i have nothing to lose though .so csa it is! many thanks to all!

Kimitatsu

GC - dont let him fool you, he will have to pay a considerable amount more then the amount he has been trying to fob you off with.

Please if you are not sure then come back here and ask the questions, there are lots of people with knowledge of how the CSA works and how to make an appeal even if he does put it all down as expenses (I have a case like that already!), we will all give you a bit of moral support so dont feel that you alone

plimsoll

georgecrow wrote: »

its difficult because he tries to keep up this facade of happy families and know he would be mortified if he knnew id discussed him like this but at my age i should snap out of the people taking advantage of my ability to suffer misplaced guilt and am in the process of getting all my info together to put claim in with csa before any doubt takes over .

he would NOT be feeling mortified. he would be feeling annoyed possibly, but that is completely different. and most of it would be because he doesn't look good/his bluff has been called etc. you are doing nothing wrong in asking about your rights & seeking maintenance for your daughter!