CSA Advice needed

Hippopoint

My daughter was left by her husband in 1997 with 3 small children and had no alternative for 5 and long years but to try to struggle to survive on income support whilst her husband did all that he could to avoid payment. He was on £36000 a year with a local authority and his new wife, for whom he left my daughter, was on £24,000 with the same authority. They first bought a 2 bedroomed house followed a couple of years later by a 3 bedroomed house to ensure that he did not pay too much to the CSA. I regularly bought my daughters weekly groceries and paid-off many of the debts which she had been left with. The Benefits Agency paid the interest on the mortgage during this time whilst he was included on the mortgage but paying nothing toward it.

After this time and during a period of depression my daughter took the children to her ex and told him that he could have the children because she felt that he was not contributing enough towards the children’s upkeep. His reaction was to stop all access to the children and my daughter then had to jump through hoops with the Court officials in order to regain regular fortnightly contact.

He then applied to the CSA for child support from my daughter and although my daughter was living alone with a substantial mortgage and was travelling 70 miles a day, in a car which I had paid for, she was still required to £40 a month to them despite the fact that their household income was around £75,000 ( including child benefit etc.) and hers just £12000.
Despite an appeal and the sympathy of the presiding officer she lost her appeal and still had to pay him. However due to changes in the price of petrol his payment was eventually reduced to £7 a week.

At this stage in March last year he asked the CSA to close the case and the CSA wrote to my daughter and was given some money back. However 2 months later we had another letter from the CSA stating that he had asked for child support and my daughter immediately replied that as he had asked for the case to be closed that she assumed that the CSA letter was in error. Nothing more was heard until 2 weeks ago when the CSA again wrote and stated she had been assessed to pay £50 a week from her pay. She came to me in tears as this would, effectively, leave her unable to survive.

She the wrote immediately to the CSA with copy of the letter which she had sent in March and, so far, she has not had a reply.

Clearly the closure of the case by my daughters ex was merely a ploy to get her off the original method of assessment and on to the new method which means that she is required to give 25% of her take home pay.

Can any body tell me how we fight this.? I am told that all my daughters original details have been wiped from the CSA computer and it looks as though she will be required to pay £50 a week into her ex’s household when they already have a gross income of £75000. It all seems completely unfair to me.

Is he really allowed to close the original case and the 2 months later apply to have it reopened when there has been no change of circumstances and without any valid reason.?

If there is anybody with knowledge of the system who is able to advise it would be appreciated.

kelloggs36

Hi, I'm afraid that there is nothing she can do apart from check that the figures used are correct. For a new rules case to be open though, the old one should be closed for at least 13 weeks - otherwise it must be re-opened under the old rules.

Unfortunately, his household income is ignored completely as he already has the children - only the other parent is assessed. Do the children spend at least 1 night (overnight) with their mother? If so, then there should be a 1/7 reduction in the rate of maintenance - it is 1/7 per night, so if they stay 2 nights per week, she gets a 2/7 reduction in liability.

Hippopoint

Thanks kelloggs36. Regrettably my daughter doesn't currently have any contact because her ex and his wife have been unco-operative and changed visiting dates and times to suit themselves. My daughter is just to fed up with the whole thing for her to go back to Court to try to resolve these issues.

kelloggs36

It is very sad, but common when parents cannot agree contact issues in order to be difficult to the other! I hope that she can resolve this issue and get it laid down in the Courts so that if he breaches it, she can take him back to get it enforced. Many people don't bother going back to Court because of the lack of enforcement that seems to occur, and also it costs money! But if more people did go back, there may be a change in attitude from the Judges and more enforcement may happen.

kelloggs36

You say that there was only a 2 month gap - have you checked the dates because if it is less than 13 weeks, it should be assessed under the old rules.

thesaint

Hippopoint,
If your daughter has a court order for contact, It would be in her and her childs interest to contact her solicitor to write a letter to the father explaining that he is breaching the order.

If this doesn't work, then she will have to take further action.There is support available for people going through this process, and you can also post on this site on her behalf for answers to your questions.

It may be easier for you to help if you can get to her focus on one step at a time, with your help it should be possible to achieve a better outcome than she currrently has.

janiegs

It should be 13 weeks from the original closure date, not 13 weeks from when your daughter received the closure letter.

Hippopoint

It is, of course, quite ludicrous that the parent with the children doesn't have to have his( or her) income assessed as clearly a millionaire could just claim maliciously as I feel, in fact know, my ex-son-in-law is doing. I appreciate that you are only stating what the regulations are, Too stupid for words and made by a Labour Government too.

kelloggs36

The reason that the PWC's income isn't assessed is because it still remains the responsibility of BOTH parents to support their children - regardless of their incomes, so if a PWC was a millionaire and it wiped out the NRP's liability, it does nothing to make the NRP support their own child. The CSA is only compulsory for those whose PWC is on benefits and so technically is open to anybody else to claim if they want to - but in most cases it is done because one of the parties involved won't be fair, hence the claim to the CSa to make them face their responsibilities.