Father never paid child support, now found him after 36 years!

Mattonlaptop

Hi All,

I have recently found my Father after 36 years.

He did not pay a penny towards my upbringing and my Mother put a claim in for child support when I was younger.

My Father fled to France, and never made contact with us, even though he was married to my Mother for 15 years previous to me being born.

Can my Mother take him to court for unpaid maintenance, even after all this time? To be clear, can my Mother take him to court not me, as I feel it would be some kind of justice for her after bringing me up alone.

Thanks,
Matt

shoe*diva79

Mattonlaptop wrote: »

Hi All,

I have recently found my Father after 36 years.

He did not pay a penny towards my upbringing and my Mother put a claim in for child support when I was younger.

My Father fled to France, and never made contact with us, even though he was married to my Mother for 15 years previous to me being born.

Can my Mother take him to court for unpaid maintenance, even after all this time? To be clear, can my Mother take him to court not me, as I feel it would be some kind of justice for her after bringing me up alone.

Thanks,
Matt

She could contact the CSA and if there are arrears on the case then they could look to recover them. She wont be able to take him to court. He wouldnt have been liable to pay if he lived in France, your mother would have had to go through the REMO process.

Best thing is for her to contact CSA, update them with his current details such as address etc and see what they can do.

Mattonlaptop

shoe*diva79 wrote: »

She could contact the CSA and if there are arrears on the case then they could look to recover them. She wont be able to take him to court. He wouldnt have been liable to pay if he lived in France, your mother would have had to go through the REMO process.

Best thing is for her to contact CSA, update them with his current details such as address etc and see what they can do.

Thanks for the reply. Is it as simple as that, move to another country and you are no longer liable?

shoe*diva79

Yep pretty much. Unless things like him earning an income from the UK, maybe he still owned property here? Worked for a UK Company... Its quite complex but its highly unlikely she could claim anything whilst he was not living here.

Mattonlaptop

shoe*diva79 wrote: »

Yep pretty much. Unless things like him earning an income from the UK, maybe he still owned property here? Worked for a UK Company... Its quite complex but its highly unlikely she could claim anything whilst he was not living here.

Hi, thank you for the advice. I think he did own a property here, certainly the company he owns has a UK address as well as a French one. Do you know where I can seek further advice on this before approaching my Mother about it?

Things are actually amicable for now between now and my Father, but this whole situation of leaving my Mother like this is niggling away at me.

shoe*diva79

She would need to contact the CSA to see where she stands with the case and arrears. She can request her file as well which will have all the letters and dealings. Until she knows if the CSA agree there are arrears then there is nothing else she can do.

justontime

It really depends on what your mum claimed, if she claimed CSA it will depend on your father being contacted and assessed. If he wasn't resident in UK (with certain exceptions) CSA would have had no mandate to deal with the case. As far as I can remember CSA began in 1993 so if it was before that perhaps your mum applied to the court? If that is the case I don't know the answer to your question.

You want to make your dad accountable for not facing up to his responsibilities, but please have a serious think before you do anything. Assuming that what your mum has told you is correct, she probably had a tough time, if she is happy and settled now don't push her to dig up the unhappiness of the past. You know which of your parents was there for you throughout your childhood, you don't need to prove anything. Maybe you should ask your dad why he abandoned you, it may give you more closure than trying to resurrect a child support claim.

Even if your mum did make a CSA claim and it was correctly opened and assessed, it is likely that all or most of any arrears outstanding would be payable to the Secretary of State not to your mum. The rules for CSA were different then.

shoe*diva79

justontime wrote: »

Even if your mum did make a CSA claim and it was correctly opened and assessed, it is likely that all or most of any arrears outstanding would be payable to the Secretary of State not to your mum. The rules for CSA were different then.

Possibly not - the OP has not said his mother was on IS whilst claiming child support. And even if she was, £10 per week of assessment would be due to her which could add up to quite a tidy sum.

Mattonlaptop

justontime wrote: »

It really depends on what your mum claimed, if she claimed CSA it will depend on your father being contacted and assessed. If he wasn't resident in UK (with certain exceptions) CSA would have had no mandate to deal with the case. As far as I can remember CSA began in 1993 so if it was before that perhaps your mum applied to the court? If that is the case I don't know the answer to your question.

You want to make your dad accountable for not facing up to his responsibilities, but please have a serious think before you do anything. Assuming that what your mum has told you is correct, she probably had a tough time, if she is happy and settled now don't push her to dig up the unhappiness of the past. You know which of your parents was there for you throughout your childhood, you don't need to prove anything. Maybe you should ask your dad why he abandoned you, it may give you more closure than trying to resurrect a child support claim.

Even if your mum did make a CSA claim and it was correctly opened and assessed, it is likely that all or most of any arrears outstanding would be payable to the Secretary of State not to your mum. The rules for CSA were different then.

Hello, thank you for your replies.

In answer to the question about being abandoned by my Father, he never tried to find me. Once he left after I was born he found another woman, at which point he got with her I do not know. (If it was during the marriage with my Mother or after). He has since told me the reason he never tried to find me was because he made a pact with his partner (who he is still with, but not married to) that they would never discuss their past.

I am sure it was before or around 1993 that my Mother applied to the court, the difficulty been that nobody knew where he was. There had been no contact with him or his family. The only reason I remember this was because my Mother told me I could write a letter to him, and I went with her to the court. She told me if they ever found him they would pass the letter on.

It is only once he told me this year did I know he moved to France, and my understanding is that he has been there 30 years, but the CSA or whoever dealt with it at the time didn't know that because they could not find him.

I am of the feeling that my Mother did everything for me, and has never said a bad word about my Father despite him abandoning us, and she has always been supportive of me trying to find him (although at the time I did I wasn't looking for him).

For me it is about her getting some kind of justice, and to see if there is anyway i can push him in to paying her what he owes for her to enjoy the rest of her retirement. She is 72 now and lives on a state pension, whilst he is 70 owns a business and a house in France, something just doesn't sit right.

Mattonlaptop

shoe*diva79 wrote: »

Possibly not - the OP has not said his mother was on IS whilst claiming child support. And even if she was, £10 per week of assessment would be due to her which could add up to quite a tidy sum.

Correct, my Mother was on IS. She totally gave up work when I was born, and never went back. She was financially supported by my Grandmother and Income support.

shoe*diva79

From what you have just said, it seems your mother applied to the court for child maintenance, not through the CSA.

You really need to speak to your mother and get cold hard facts I am afraid as to who she applied to and when. Without knowing for sure means we cannot really advise on the best way to go.