CSA want old debt paid or it goes to baliffs please help!

kelloggs36

How much was outstanding originally? For you to owe 10k in a year is a lot of money, unless you were already paying the arrears off before then, in which case they must have been higher?

If they send it to a debt collection agency and you can't pay, then it will be sent back again for the CSA to deal with again in enforcement. They can put a charge on the property but first they have to obtain a liability order. Did you notify them of your change in circumstances and try to negotiate repayment at a lower rate before?

These days enforcement are getting much tougher - the Chief Executive is much in favour of enforced sales of properties owned by NRPs, so you COULD be forced to sell up, but there are factors which are taken into consideration before this decision is made and it has to be after all other methods of collection have failed, so don't worry too much at this stage. What have you offered to the CSA in terms of repayment per month? If it is reasonable, you could go to your MP with the evidence of your offer and see if he/she can have any influence on their decision over whether to negotiate lower payments with you. There is no legal document which states that payments have to be at a specific level or have to be paid within a certain amount of time, but what they are doing at the moment is trying to ensure that payments are made over reasonable time - there are many cases which will take until the child is in their 40s and even 50s before all the arrears are paid off which is ridiculous! If you can try and negotiate something sensible, and offer for a review in a year then it may be more palatable for them. Bear in mind that the PWC has had to go without altogether which has caused hardship to the child in question and this isn't fair. Of course you must protect yourself, but not totally at the expense of the child in question who must be a priority.

ANNIEHAHA

Hi thanks for your replies there all very much appreciated ,let me explain our situation a little better.In 1997 when they split my husband had his own company and the csa wanted a large portion of his earnings, this is why the amount is so much.He had to argue with them about this as they did not take into account him having his son half the week.Also they did not take into account when our 2 kids were born.
We had to move house as we were struggling financially and eventually my husband lost his buissiness.
We were reassessed to pay nothing in 2003 as we are low income and no were not one of those fiddling the books.
we were paying arrears off until 2005 when things got so tight our kids are on free school meals ,may I also add to those who seem to be irate ,my husband drives 200 miles every other weekend and half the hols to get his son and he is not a dead beat dad. he supports his son and has given the ex money that she won't supply a letter for even though she was quick to take the money and she works on the side of benefits and goes abroad every year so its not always the dads.

ANNIEHAHA

May I also say this child has never gone without we are fully supportive of him and he has a place in our home and knows his brother and sister as his own.He never goes without a holiday and if we have a day out we wait until its his weekend so he dosen't miss out.
We are a family of 5 and he is part of our family.

TheWaltons_3

ANNIEHAHA wrote: »

Hi thanks for your replies there all very much appreciated ,let me explain our situation a little better.In 1997 when they split my husband had his own company and the csa wanted a large portion of his earnings, this is why the amount is so much.He had to argue with them about this as they did not take into account him having his son half the week.Also they did not take into account when our 2 kids were born.
We had to move house as we were struggling financially and eventually my husband lost his buissiness.
We were reassessed to pay nothing in 2003 as we are low income and no were not one of those fiddling the books.
we were paying arrears off until 2005 when things got so tight our kids are on free school meals ,may I also add to those who seem to be irate ,my husband drives 200 miles every other weekend and half the hols to get his son and he is not a dead beat dad. he supports his son and has given the ex money that she won't supply a letter for even though she was quick to take the money and she works on the side of benefits and goes abroad every year so its not always the dads.

Well why don't you appeal in this case?

It does seem though, that avoidance of the issue has made it escalate this far.

You should have all your books from your business up until 7 years ago I presume?

Get some legal advice, if you are genuinly being penalised here.. the solicitors fees may cost less than the 10k.

kelloggs36

Do you have evidence that you notified the CSA of when the children were born? They HAVE to take this into consideration in the assessment if you provide evidence. If you did not provide evidence, then they will not do it - check that you did and then feel free to PM me in respect of the assessment and I can check it for you. It may not always make a lot of difference, but it should make some. The only time that the CSA cannot take shared care into account is if the average works out at under 2 nights per week over a year, OR if there is a dispute over it, where the PWC argues that it doesn't happen - in that case the advice would be to appeal and get a hearing at a Tribunal who can question things more clearly.

The worst thing you have done is to stop paying rather than try to negotiate something at the time - they can take payments in respect of arrears at a rate as low as just under 6 pounds per week, but for reasons to ensure it is paid off as quickly as possible they are reluctant to do this. However, you should be in a position to negotiate - if they refuse, ask them to provide evidence that they are unable to negotiate payments with you by way of quoting the legislation. There is none, so they won't be able to and you can argue the case - do this via your MP who will I am sure, get a better response from them.

kelloggs36

If you did not provide evidence of anything though at the time regarding any changes in circumstances, they can't apply it retrospectively.

ANNIEHAHA

Hi thanks again , in 2003 we were paying off £5 per week ,until as I said we couldn't even do that.
We have 2 properties we rent out that give us an income of just under £10,000 that we use to live off.
the csa were fine when we were unable to pay the arrears but this was done over the phone as were the childrens birth dates.
Please be aware that we have not avoided this issue and were paying £250.00 a month from 2001-2003 then we moved and the buissiness went and now we are living off rental property.the amount is so much as we had a property rented out and a buissiness not cos we didn't want to pay it.
Kelloggs36 what legislation is it I should ask to quote?

ANNIEHAHA

Also the csa have said this is a new goverment thing that if we can't pay the £1,000 up front and the £100 a month it automatically goes to debt collection.
We are more than willing to pay the arrears rather than go to debt collection but the amount we can pay is not what they will accept.

kelloggs36

There isn't any! This is the point - ask them to quote the legislation which states that you must pay the arrears within 2 years and that they do not have to negotiate with you. They won't be able to as it doesn't exist - that way they should back down and be more realistic. If not, then put in a formal, written complaint via your MP on the basis that they are ignoring the fact that you are willing to negotiate repayment of the debt, but they are being unreasonable about it. They may decide to go for a Liability Order to secure the debt, but provided that you make regular payments they won't take other action, such as selling one of the properties you own.

ANNIEHAHA

Does that mean the debt will still go to debt recovery ? As they are the ones that have refused the money offered ,they said if we can't pay it it will automatically go to debt recovery within the month.
When you say there is no legislation is that for them to take that much payment within 2 years or for it to go to debt recovery?What is a liability order?
Sorry to ask you so many questions kelloggs36 but you seem to be in the know about so much , thank-you for all your time and I hope everything goes well for you in the future.