Problem with CSA

matt_Sth

Hi

My sister split up with her husband just after they had a baby (about 9 months ago). She is back living with mum and dad and he got to keep house, both cars etc while they are going through the divorce proceedings. He has paid nothing towards the baby for the first 6 months but now has been made to pay thru the CSA. He is self employed and when my sister got the info from the CSA he said he was earning something like £83 a week so has to pay £5 child support, in reality he earns way more than this, for example the mortage repayments are over £1k a month!! Is there anything we can do about this? On the mortgage application a couple of years ago he declared he was earning over £50k a year! My sister has been left penniless as everything she gets goes on the baby and it seems a real miscarriage of justice that he pays just pennies. Any ideas?

thesaint

It is notoriously hard to chase self employed people.

There is a sub-board for the CSA on this site, send a private message to a board guide to move this thread there or copy and paste it over there.

misswig

matt_Sth wrote: »

Hi

My sister split up with her husband just after they had a baby (about 9 months ago). She is back living with mum and dad and he got to keep house, both cars etc while they are going through the divorce proceedings. He has paid nothing towards the baby for the first 6 months but now has been made to pay thru the CSA. He is self employed and when my sister got the info from the CSA he said he was earning something like £83 a week so has to pay £5 child support, in reality he earns way more than this, for example the mortage repayments are over £1k a month!! Is there anything we can do about this? On the mortgage application a couple of years ago he declared he was earning over £50k a year! My sister has been left penniless as everything she gets goes on the baby and it seems a real miscarriage of justice that he pays just pennies. Any ideas?

I went through a similar experiance during my divorce. Ex H kept the house (4 bedroomed detached in nice area) whilst i was forced to move out with 14 month old. As all my family lived away i was staying with various friend for 1 month before i could move into rented accomadation. My ExH also was self employed and claimed poverty so only ha to pay the minimum CSA whilst living the life of riley!!

Has your sister seen a solicitor?? If not i sugget shedoes. Due to her circumstance she will qualify for legal aid so it shouldn't cost her anything. She needs to go throught the courts to get sufficient child support. They will look into not only how he much he earns but also his assets etc and assess how much he should be paying. It is a long drawn out process but worth it in the end.

Another thing is the house. Was it in joint names? If so she is entitled to at least half of the value of it, possibly more.

This a hard time for your sister and the family. In my darkest hours i would look at my DS and realise that in the end i had the best deal as i had him.

It may take some time but it will come ok in the end for her.

Vxx

matt_Sth

There is a sub-board for the CSA on this site, send a private message to a board guide to move this thread there or copy and paste it over there.

Apologies will do.

Misswig, thanks for your reply she is seeing a solicitor at the moment about the house etc, its just really frustratng me that, as you said, she is really struggling and he is living the life of riley.

In my darkest hours i would look at my DS and realise that in the end i had the best deal as i had him.

Couldnt agree more

Glad

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kelloggs36

She needs to apply for a Variation on the grounds that his lifestyle is inconsistent with his declared income. She needs to gather evidence such as the land registry docs which prove how much the house was bought for, and who the mortgage co are. The CSA can refer the case to their criminal compliance team who have the powers to get info from his mortgage company in respect of his income. However in the mean time, she needs to get as much evidence as possible - photos of the cars, the house, plus the house price details, how much he needs to have coming in in order to sustain such a mortgage, household bills (gas, elec, phone, council tax) and then get evidence of the amount of earnings that somebody in the same trade can expect to earn - job adverts, office of national statistics details of average earnings of a particular trade.

After filling in the application, it will be refused - almost guaranteed. What she must do then is APPEAL and at this stage, she will get all the docs that he sent in to comment on, and she can add any responses in response to his claims and attach any further evidence. The appeal will go to a Tribunal where she will be given the opportunity to state her case (so will he) and they can make directions such as to ask him to supply eviidence of his mortgage application which shows his income that he declared, bank statements which shows the income paid into the account and what is paid out. Refusal to comply with their request can lead to a decison which goes against him as this is his opportunity to prove his side - if he can't then you will win. You can ask that the Tribunal ask him certain things, like bank, mortgage etc. Want any more advice, PM me as I am both staff AND I won my case for proving lifestyle against my ex.

matt_Sth

kellogs36, thanks very much for all that and your offer of further help, i will pass this info on to her, much appreciated