Son's baliff action for non payment of fines

determined_new_ms

Hi I wonder if someone has some advice.

My son has a court fine that he hasn't paid - he has tried several times to ask the court to reassess how much he needs to pay. It was set up as £10 pw & he receives £30 pw EMA, he has been unable to work as part of this has been he needs to do community service as well.

He went to the Court 3 x & has called asking them to relook at his financial situation - the last time was on the 21st March via telephone and he was advised he would be summoned to court to relook at this. He is trying to get hold of his call history for that day to prove he did call.

On Thursday of last week he received a DCA letter saying he needs to pay the whole amount. He went to the court to discuss and there are no records of him calling & was advised he needs to contact the DCA. The DCA have told him he needs the whole amount - more than £1000.

A couple of questions - how can he go about negiotiating with the DCA? Are there any letter templates to say do not call at our home as we are in discussions with the court over this? Also I am concerned that they will come to our home & take our posessions - my son is over 18.

Thanks in advance

SeriouslySeekingtoSave

I don't know anything about baliffs but I'm bumping this thread, hopefully someone can advise you.

DebtHater

determined_new_ms wrote: »

Hi I wonder if someone has some advice.

My son has a court fine that he hasn't paid - he has tried several times to ask the court to reassess how much he needs to pay. It was set up as £10 pw & he receives £30 pw EMA, he has been unable to work as part of this has been he needs to do community service as well.

He went to the Court 3 x & has called asking them to relook at his financial situation - the last time was on the 21st March via telephone and he was advised he would be summoned to court to relook at this. He is trying to get hold of his call history for that day to prove he did call.

On Thursday of last week he received a DCA letter saying he needs to pay the whole amount. He went to the court to discuss and there are no records of him calling & was advised he needs to contact the DCA. The DCA have told him he needs the whole amount - more than £1000.

A couple of questions - how can he go about negiotiating with the DCA? Are there any letter templates to say do not call at our home as we are in discussions with the court over this? Also I am concerned that they will come to our home & take our posessions - my son is over 18.

Thanks in advance

Firstly, I would recommend checking out this page at Direct.gov - they explain everything you need to know. If you have any Q's after reading, repost and I'm sure we can help: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/ManagingDebt/DebtsAndArrears/DG_10034289

I would say the lesson that your son should learn from this is to keep everything in writing. I am assuming this is criminal court as you make reference to community service.
May I ask how much this fine is set at? When the court makes an order for a fine to pay, your son would have been asked to fill out a questionnaire so that the court know what his incomings and outgoings are. This is called a Statement of Means. The judge will look at this and, if applicable, will set a weekly amount for repayment.

I'm sorry to say this, but the £10 p/w that the court is offering would probably be the lowest they would accept. They also only usually give you one chance - if you miss a payment then the full amount will become payable. They would have looked at his "disposable" income and I would imagine they figured out that £10 was disposable.

May I make a suggestion, to solve this whole problem? How about you pay the fine for your son, and then he repays you direct. That would then stop the bailiffs from coming round. If your son gets summoned for non-payment, I fear that would not only risk having more money put on the fine but other consequences. You need to avoid having to go back into court!

If you could give some more info, I can help more.

HappyMJ

DebtHater wrote: »

I'm sorry to say this, but the £10 p/w that the court is offering would probably be the lowest they would accept. They also only usually give you one chance - if you miss a payment then the full amount will become payable. They would have looked at his "disposable" income and I would imagine they figured out that £10 was disposable.

The lowest??...I currently pay £10 a month on income of £1,300 per month.

DebtHater

HappyMJ wrote: »

The lowest??...I currently pay £10 a month on income of £1,300 per month.

£2.50 a week? I can honestly say I havent heard of it being that low.

But, that said, on that £1300 per month what are your outgoings?

If you say to the judge you have £1300 coming in, but £1290 going out, what choice do they have but to accept £10 per month?

pink_princess

So how much has your son been paying them a week? Having to do CS will not stop your son working. If he gets a job they will change his CS to fit in around his work hours.
I agree with Debthater, pay it for him. Then make him pay you every penny back plus what interest you would of lost on the amount. This will help him become more responsible.

Triggles

I'm rather in the camp of encouraging your son to handle this situation himself. Certainly point him in the right direction and help him find the information he needs. But if he is an adult, he needs to learn to deal with this type of stuff. If you bail him out and pay it, what's to stop him from not paying you back? And learning that if he gets into a bind, you're going to bail him out again? The fact that this is for non-payment of court fines is a bit of a red flag that he's not being horribly responsible as it is. He needs to handle this himself and sort it out.

adouglasmhor

What sort of "fine" is this? It sounds more like damages or compensation order TBH. If you don't pay fines they usually issue a warrant for your arrest.

Dharma_Bunny

What does he spend his £30 a week on?

theoretica

To reassure you - the bailiff can not take your goods. He can only take things belonging to your son and not anything vital like his last pair of jeans or anything that is yours. You might need to sign an affidavit stating what is yours. The fine is not intended to punish you - it is intended to punish your son and the judge will have expected him to find it painful to pay.

If he has any electronic gadgets, music collection or a car he would probably be better off selling them himself and handing the money over rather than having them taken and sold cheaply at auction.

MyRubyRed

Hi all, I currently receive a compensation payment from the court from a young guy found guilty of causing damage to my vehicle. I get between £4 and £6 a month because that apparently is all he can afford to pay. So if the OP's son is paying compen payments then perhaps it could have been set lower.