CSA taking hubby to court on Monday - help

gill37

Hubby has arrears dating back to 2004. Since 2008 he has been a house husband looking after our two children. Went back to work pt earning £82 a week in order to keep our heads just above water. Now CSA are taking him to court and are requesting either a) jail or b) taking away his driving licence.

Anyone been in a similar position? What will happen on Monday? Any advice??

DUTR

Did he inform them of a change of circumstance at the time?
Nobody can really predict what the outcome will be as it is up to the courts on the day, and the CSA cannot really dictate the punishment either, jail or removal of his driving license is not going to assist in obtaining CS contributions.

gill37

Yes he has informed them at every turn, while in employment- always temp- or unemployed. So the fact that CSA has asked for either of these two options, it will actually have no bearing on what the court will do?

DUTR

gill37 wrote: »

Yes he has informed them at every turn, while in employment- always temp- or unemployed. So the fact that CSA has asked for either of these two options, it will actually have no bearing on what the court will do?

The csa are not the judge , how do they expect the arrears to be paid if he is in prison or has no licence to assist with a job, nobody gains from either of those options, the arrears will always be due.

gill37

Could they take our house? It is a joint mortgage. Arrears is £5k.

romanempire

How did the arrears arise? Are they accurate? The CSA frequently gets their sums wrong. Its a bit late now but you should have got his file from CSA so you can check the arrears are real.

Common theme on these forums is NRP (your hubby) not staying on top of his dealings with CSA. When that happens the CSA start making things up and creating fictitious arrears. First step is to get his file so he can check the arrears are accurate.

But I gotta ask, how has it managed to get this far? From my own experience you will have known this was coming months ago.

Check out https://www.nacsa.co.uk Worth the small amount of money.

R.

bdt1

Yes, yes, yes.......................................we been in same boat - oh welcome to the world of the CSA!!!!!!!!!!!

My hubs has a CSA Case with his ex (I'm NRPP). Been to Court several times, plus worse, so got many of the t-shirts you are about to experience.

Firstly, when you say CSA are taking your hubs to Court , I assume this is Magistrates Court and that the hearing is in relation to the granting of a Liability Order for the alleged 5k debt? Am, I right? As this is usually 1st step CSA take. Whether the alleged debt is under dispute or not, as long as CSA can allege that your hubs owes something (or anything in fact) to CSA then the Magistrate will be powerless to avoid the LO being granted.

The very next step CSA will take after the LO, is bailiffs will turn up at your home, so be prepared for this, but if they can't gain access on usually 3 visits or over a period of 6 months, they will throw case back to CSA. The CSA will also get a CCJ and then go for a charge on your home (they have done all of this to us - best was we then proved we never owed debt, and won at a Tribunal hearing, so massive complaints and CSA now picking through removing all of the aforesaid action!!)

You really need to get your Data Protection File, NACSA have a template it will cost you a tenner, but this should hold all assessments/info relevant to your case, which may help you understand where the arrears have come from - if at all they even exist!!!

In meantime, you cannot appeal an arrears figure, but you can appela the assessment or decision that brought them about...........So it may be woth putting in a general appeal for the last decision made, even if it is out of time, state your reasons why, and it will be up to a Tribunal Judge not CSA to decide if you are allowed an appeal.

Good luck it will be a long road, but if you stay strong you can fight this

bdt1

Oh, and yes, they can force a sale of your home, but this is last resort, also if I remember rightly Kelloggs once may have said they don't usually go for this if arrears less than 5k. But, doesn't matter if jointly owned or not, may be a bit better if you have a child living in the house with you, but if you try and sort this out now, then it probably won't come to this

Rustic100

Bdt1 you wrote "In meantime, you cannot appeal an arrears figure, but you can appeal the assessment or decision that brought them about...........So it may be woth putting in a general appeal for the last decision made, even if it is out of time, state your reasons why, and it will be up to a Tribunal Judge not CSA to decide if you are allowed an appeal."

I have heard this before on appeals but am not very clear where I get the ground rules on what is and isn't appealable?
If I suddenly get a letter from the CSA saying they have reassessed thier own previous historical assessments - I can't appeal the arrears created?
If I can prove the CSA did not take into account information I had provided the CSA such as a change of circumstance, and had also paid child support by private arrangements for other children, can I appeal here? My argument is that the CSA by making mistakes and then acting retrospectivly, the CSA denied me the opportunity to put most of my child support paid within thier payment rules.

Where are the guidelines on appeals - When I hear how easy it is for court orders, baliffs - its shocking parents are treated like this!!!!

gill37

The only saving grace is we live in Scotland so there are no bailiffs here. Yeah we should have got hubs file to check arrears are accurate but we just assumed they would be. How naive we are. Have only known about this court case for 4 wks and we are both guilty of trying not to think about it as it stresses us out. CSA have tried the court route with us in the past and lo has already been granted in court without us attending. They prob has been however that CSA have not been able to take any of his neater wages as they fluctuate due to o/t some weeks and the debt couldn't be paid back over 2yrs. This is why they are taking him to court tomorrow.

CSA_Help

It is sherrif officers in Scotland who will do the same as baiilifs.

If you can provide the court of what you are liable to pay and what you are paying then the court will ask for more submissions.

I done that and it took 4 sittings at court before it was granted (oh and for a wrong amount also)

Good luck and remeber to attend court.