C Maintenance assessment

kelloggs36

rare_stuff wrote:

Thanks Kelloggs, maybe I didn't make myself clear, it does happen that way on occassion! I'm actually the non-resident parent and it was my ex who denied the child was mine right from the first day she discovered she was pregnant, breaking off our relationship the same day. I don't want to go into too much detail here but this caused a great deal of stress for me and at the time as we working in the same small building, and meant that I spent nearly 6months on sickpay due to stress caused and actually resigned as I could not return to work at the end of my entitlement to sick pay as it was impossible to concentrate on my job, or even think clearly when confronted by the sight of my heavily pregnant ex on a daily basis. She continued her denials until the day I had taken her to court and it was pointed out to her that DNA testing would be ordered, when she capitulated and admitted I was the father. Shortly after this she must have made her claim for CSA.

Excuse me if this appears irrelevent, but I do not want to appear as a absent father who is shirking his responsibilities and I have yet to be allowed contact with my child despite 2 attempts instigated by me for mediation that were both refused by my ex. I am now not in a position to pursue contact as I have spent over £2000 already on legal fees to prove the child is mine and to attempt to gain contact through mediation.

Back on topic (at last!) I received an assesment from the CSA this morning advising me that I would only have to pay from the date CSA was first claimed, but have yet to receive instructions on payment or a schedule of payment.

As I am self employed I am aware they will not be able to make an attachment of earnings and would like some opinions or advice on whether it is worth witholding payments until terms of contact are agreed.

From what you are saying, you have provided all the relevant information and an assessment has been made. Fine. It is up to you whether you make payments now if you have not actually been asked to pay, BUT bear in mind that your arrears will increase on a weekly basis until you start paying, meaning that you will be required to pay a higher sum in order to pay it all back.

You could (if you have the money) make a lump sum payment now, which clear the arrears then you will only have your regular maintenance to pay. Or, you could call them and come to an agreement regarding how much you can pay in addition to your regular maintenance to clear the arrears. IMHO I would pay off as much as I could afford in order to avoid this dragging on and on.

kelloggs36

Alternatively, until they ask you to start paying, you could put away the amount they have said you should pay into an account, in order that you can at least limit the arrears that build up.

rare_stuff

Thanks Kellogs and others who I can't quote due to them being on a different page now ( I could do tabbed browsing but am having enough problems with firefox at the moment!)

Am not too worried about the arrears as my assessment is a basic £5 a week due to self employed status and being in a start-up period My profits are minimal. Though there is 10months of arrears currently!

As for the issue of enforcement if I miss a payment, I had been advised that this usually takes the form of an attachment of earnings, as am self employed this would not be possible so what would the action be?

I have already put by money for my child, but this is for my son, not to keep my ex in clover. Currently she is still employed in a relatively good and secure job and due to her deceit and lies I lost the job I had been in for 2years, and had trained in for the previous 5 years, and due to the stress associated with it I can no longer entertain the idea of employment within this field. Financially this came close to completely ruining me as well as having a massive impact on my physical and mental health. Unfortunately these aren't taken into any account by the CSA or any legislation

Apologies for wandering into the personal, I just feel I need to justify the reasons why I am reluctant to pay until I can have access to my son. He is now 16months old and I have not even seen as much as a photo of him and 2 attempts at mediation discuss access were refused. After the cost of me taking her to court in the first place to prove paternity I can not afford to take her to court again to secure access arrangements.

I don't expect to receive fair treatment from the CSA as I have not seen any fairness in this matter since she got her pregnancy test results and told me I wasn't the father when I knew then I was.

thesaint

Have you looked at the costs of going to court for contact without the use of a solicitor?

Lil2002

rare_stuff wrote:

Am not too worried about the arrears as my assessment is a basic £5 a week due to self employed status and being in a start-up period My profits are minimal. Though there is 10months of arrears currently!

So we're talking about £200?

rare_stuff wrote:

As for the issue of enforcement if I miss a payment, I had been advised that this usually takes the form of an attachment of earnings, as am self employed this would not be possible so what would the action be?

http://www.csa.gov.uk/new/advisors/engw/#C6

rare_stuff wrote:

I have already put by money for my child, but this is for my son, not to keep my ex in clover.

£200 for 10 months care?

rare_stuff wrote:

I don't expect to receive fair treatment from the CSA as I have not seen any fairness in this matter since she got her pregnancy test results and told me I wasn't the father when I knew then I was.

What does her treatment of you have to do with the CSA treatment of you?

rare_stuff

Thanks for the link about enforcement

maybe my rant about the fairness of the CSA has no relevence but I do feel that the treatment and actions of my ex should be taken into mitigation. The fact that I suffered the loss of my job/career and the legal costs I incurred in establishing I was the father, which were instigated by myself, should be taken into account.

Perhaps I shouldn't have fought to prove I was the father as I don't seem to have gained anything from having done so except my name on the birth certificate. But the reason I did was I did not want to walk away from the situation without having the full knowledge as to whether I was the father or not.

Anyway, I feel we seem to have drifted off the topic here so I apologise for that.

I will also very likely comply with payments, but am unlikely to be able to pursue contact due to legal costs, even if I felt confident of representing myself at court I don't think I could present such a complicated issue well enough to do myself and my son justice. And I imagine even without a barrister/solicitor the costs would still be quite steep.

Thanks all for letting me rant, I don't get much chance to get this off my chest.

thesaint

rare_stuff wrote:

Thanks for the link about enforcement

maybe my rant about the fairness of the CSA has no relevence but I do feel that the treatment and actions of my ex should be taken into mitigation. The fact that I suffered the loss of my job/career and the legal costs I incurred in establishing I was the father, which were instigated by myself, should be taken into account.

Perhaps I shouldn't have fought to prove I was the father as I don't seem to have gained anything from having done so except my name on the birth certificate. But the reason I did was I did not want to walk away from the situation without having the full knowledge as to whether I was the father or not.

Anyway, I feel we seem to have drifted off the topic here so I apologise for that.

I will also very likely comply with payments, but am unlikely to be able to pursue contact due to legal costs, even if I felt confident of representing myself at court I don't think I could present such a complicated issue well enough to do myself and my son justice. And I imagine even without a barrister/solicitor the costs would still be quite steep.

Thanks all for letting me rant, I don't get much chance to get this off my chest.

I would ask you to find out how much it would cost to file the papers yourself, I believe that you owe it to yourself and son that at least.

The case is not complicated, you are the father of the child and would like to have a contact order considered. Unless there is a compelling reason not to, you will get one.

You are complicating things by bringing in the C.S.A into it.

MJMum

The case is not complicated, you are the father of the child and would like to have a contact order considered. Unless there is a compelling reason not to, you will get one.

However, having a contact order is no guarantee that you will actually get to HAVE contact. The PWC is free to ignore the contact order and the courts will do absolutely nothing to enforce it. Sorry to sound so negative, but I wish someone had pointed this out to my husband before we wasted two years and many thousands of pounds on legal fees :rolleyes:

kelloggs36

It sounds like you are trying to be a good father and actually wants to have an influence in your child's life and I respect you fully for that.

Unfortunately, the CSA cannot take any consideration of the past in order to determine maintenance levels, nor can it take these factors into account when deciding whether to enforce payments. If the matters were legally linked, then there would be a case for it; there is no link. The CSA is for maintenance and the Courts are for contact matters.

The enforcement link won't tell you about some of the other things they can do to enforce payments, so don't just rely on that site to inform you fully. There are other things they can do such as freeze your bank account and sell your house. Obviously, selling your house is a very drastic measure, and the arrears have to be above 5k before this can be a consideration, plus equity in the property etc, but just to make you aware, that although they were not quite to keen to take harsh enforcement action, they are much more willing now.

I would also like to point out that it has been said in the past that if you are making payments of CSA to your ex, then this may go in your favour when deciding contact issues - of course it doesn't guarantee anything, but it shows to some degree your seriousness.

What is your ex's problem that she doesn't want you to have a relationship with your child?

thesaint

MJMum wrote:

However, having a contact order is no guarantee that you will actually get to HAVE contact. The PWC is free to ignore the contact order and the courts will do absolutely nothing to enforce it. Sorry to sound so negative, but I wish someone had pointed this out to my husband before we wasted two years and many thousands of pounds on legal fees :rolleyes:

There are no guarantee's in life period.

The Parent with care can ignore the court order, many do. The point I am making is that too many parents will give up at the first sign of trouble, in this case without any idea of what the cost will be. It may cost £30 to file the papers, I don't know.
If the child finds out at age 16 that it did indeed cost £30 to file the papers, what would that child think? "My dad gave up because he wouldn't spend £30 to see me".

It is never a waste to spend money to try and see your children. I bet your husband sleeps better at night knowing he tried?