CSA Liability Order - HELP!

Failo1o

Ok, my hubby has received a Liability Order and a court date. They say he owes 3 grand for his (now 19 year old) daughter.
There have been payments direct to the mother and attachments of earnings, but now he is out of work and they want the money they say he owes now.
Can anyone advise me on the outcome of this - we do not have the cash they are asking for, they have given us a court date - which, unless we book a hotel overnight (which we can not afford) we can not attend, what should we do?

CSA_Help

Failo1o wrote: »

Ok, my hubby has received a Liability Order and a court date. They say he owes 3 grand for his (now 19 year old) daughter.
There have been payments direct to the mother and attachments of earnings, but now he is out of work and they want the money they say he owes now.
Can anyone advise me on the outcome of this - we do not have the cash they are asking for, they have given us a court date - which, unless we book a hotel overnight (which we can not afford) we can not attend, what should we do?

Hhve you informed them he is out of work to do a change of circumstances.
Can you provide proof he paid the mother or can she testify.

Failo1o

CSA_Help wrote: »

Hhve you informed them he is out of work to do a change of circumstances.
Can you provide proof he paid the mother or can she testify.

The mother won't testify and we have no proof.
We told the CSA that he was now out of work and they just said "so, you are refusing to pay, we will have to take it to court"
I guess what I really want to know is what will happen at court? We are not fighting the debt (as we have no proof of previous payments) nor saying we will not pay it, but we can not pay it all at once and I'm worried what the court can do.

bdt1

Ok, we been there and got all of the t-shirts you are about to encounter!!!!!!!!!!!! Except ours was for 34k..............

Firstly whatever you do, the LO will go ahead, but if you get the chance it's always worth attending Court, if only to put your side across, and produce any evidence you may have to the contrary that the debt exists. As long as CSA can prove to the Magistrate that 'any' debt exists the LO will be granted, the Magistrate have little/nearly no powers iin their own Court.

As a matter of urgency you need to request your Data Protection file from CSA, NACSA have a template on their website and it will cost you a tenner, but well worth the money, as it should hold all conversations/assessments/evidence etc etc CSA may have in relation to your case, this is where we began to understand the mistakes CSa had made in our case. Please put your request in writing and send recorded delivery, keep Royal Mail barcode receipt and print off signature as proof from PC that CSA did in fact receive your request, they legally have 40 days to provide this file.

Once the LO is granted CSA will very quickly involve bailiffs, so be prepared, they will generally visit 3 or 4 times, or give a case a few months (6 max) then if no success they pass it back to CSA. Under no circs let bailiffs in your home and keep windows/doors locked as this is seen as an 'invitation' to access property - if they send you letters threstening to gain acccess and change locks etc report them as they are breaching their code and cannot legally do it but often threaten this.

CSA will also possibly look at impounding any vehicle worth decent sum of money so if anything of value is owned by your hubs, it may be worth selling/transferring ownership to someone else. CSA can also remove money from any bank accounts your partner may have, even joint accounts, so look at how much money are in any accounts with his name on, and remove him from any joint accounts asap.

Then if no joy, CSA will get a CCJ nd also a charge on any property in your husbands or joint names, so also be prepared for this.

If you need further advice PM me, as said been through it all, and the alleged 34k debt never existed so in our case in position where my other half has a CCJ, LO and property charge for £34,000 which CSA have admitted he never owed, but refuse to remove the aforesaid until they sort out whether we owe them £2,700, or as we know is the case, we have in fact over paid by this figure!!!!!!!! We ust watching and waiting another response at present.

I know the stress is huge, but stay strong and NACSA are also very helpful, they know more about CSA law than the CSA

bdt1

Oh sorry also just to mention, CSA have a 2 year steer at present, what this means is they aim to recoup all arrears within a 2year timeframe, so if they say you owe 3k, they would be looking at repayment of this within 2 years, or then enforcement action will be taken. If they try and bully you etc, please remember this is NOT LAW, there are no laws exist that state arrears must be paid in 2 years, but CSA staff will tell you there are, if they do so, please ask for the relevant law to be quoted for reference, they won't be able to come up with it, remember they are bullies working toward targets

Blob

Go to the Court office and get an application for a Form N245, you can also get one on line. Get this into Court and then the payment of this will be taken out of the hands of the CSA and their people and put in the hands of the Court! They will heat you for this but hay ho! The Court will then look at all of your income and out goings and tell the CSA how much they will get, if they don't like this then to bad as it will be in the form of a Court Order, and you will have the protection of the Court if they try to break it!

Failo1o

bdt1 wrote: »

Ok, we been there and got all of the t-shirts you are about to encounter!!!!!!!!!!!! Except ours was for 34k..............

Firstly whatever you do, the LO will go ahead, but if you get the chance it's always worth attending Court, if only to put your side across, and produce any evidence you may have to the contrary that the debt exists. As long as CSA can prove to the Magistrate that 'any' debt exists the LO will be granted, the Magistrate have little/nearly no powers iin their own Court.

As a matter of urgency you need to request your Data Protection file from CSA, NACSA have a template on their website and it will cost you a tenner, but well worth the money, as it should hold all conversations/assessments/evidence etc etc CSA may have in relation to your case, this is where we began to understand the mistakes CSa had made in our case. Please put your request in writing and send recorded delivery, keep Royal Mail barcode receipt and print off signature as proof from PC that CSA did in fact receive your request, they legally have 40 days to provide this file.

Once the LO is granted CSA will very quickly involve bailiffs, so be prepared, they will generally visit 3 or 4 times, or give a case a few months (6 max) then if no success they pass it back to CSA. Under no circs let bailiffs in your home and keep windows/doors locked as this is seen as an 'invitation' to access property - if they send you letters threstening to gain acccess and change locks etc report them as they are breaching their code and cannot legally do it but often threaten this.

CSA will also possibly look at impounding any vehicle worth decent sum of money so if anything of value is owned by your hubs, it may be worth selling/transferring ownership to someone else. CSA can also remove money from any bank accounts your partner may have, even joint accounts, so look at how much money are in any accounts with his name on, and remove him from any joint accounts asap.

Then if no joy, CSA will get a CCJ nd also a charge on any property in your husbands or joint names, so also be prepared for this.

If you need further advice PM me, as said been through it all, and the alleged 34k debt never existed so in our case in position where my other half has a CCJ, LO and property charge for £34,000 which CSA have admitted he never owed, but refuse to remove the aforesaid until they sort out whether we owe them £2,700, or as we know is the case, we have in fact over paid by this figure!!!!!!!! We ust watching and waiting another response at present.

I know the stress is huge, but stay strong and NACSA are also very helpful, they know more about CSA law than the CSA

Thank you so much, that is the information I was after. I was worried that hubby may get arrested or something.

I will send off for the file this week.

We don't have a joint account, only money that goes into hubbies is his job seekers allowance, we have no property and the car is a £400 run around.

Yours sounds like it was a nightmare, I can not imagine having to go through that!

Failo1o

Blob wrote: »

Go to the Court office and get an application for a Form N245, you can also get one on line. Get this into Court and then the payment of this will be taken out of the hands of the CSA and their people and put in the hands of the Court! They will heat you for this but hay ho! The Court will then look at all of your income and out goings and tell the CSA how much they will get, if they don't like this then to bad as it will be in the form of a Court Order, and you will have the protection of the Court if they try to break it!

Will they look at joint income or just the hubbies? Am I also liable for the debt?

Blob

The LO will just be against him, they will look at his money unless you make a joint application.

Good Luck.

Dave100h

Ok similar things happening here, have recieved a ENFORCEMENT notice to say that the CSA are going to put it in to court for the £4940 that I owe in arrears. I am currently rated at £0 as I do not work or claim benefits. I disputed the amount as they have me working continuous which I wasn't, but they say it is too late and that is the amount I owe.
The other factor is I have an IVA with all my and my wifes debts, can this arrears debt be added to that?
Thanks in advance
Dave

bdt1

Dave - I believe that whoever is dealing with your IVA will soon become aware of the CSA debt if you haven't already told them - they are reviewed at least annually, so whoever in charge of your IVA will look into this at review.

My hubs is also in an IVA situation, yet I do not believe that it can be added to your IVA arrangement, as there is no way CSA will negotiate so many pence in the pound to be paid, as will your other creditors. Even had you been made bankrupt the full debt would stand as far as CSA are concerned.

If I were you I would get ahold of your Data Protection File, you need to go through it with a fine tooth comb to check all assessments are a) 100% correct and that b) no interim maintenance assessments have been made.

You may also need to look in your file to see if there is any clarification that you informed CSA of your change in circumstances ie when you stopped working, as if you informed them then the zero assessment is correct, but you need to see where these alleged arrears have come from, and insist they are rectified asap.

You cannot appeal arrears, but you can appeal a decision which brought about the arrears figure - please bear this in mind!!

Good luck