CSA Liability Nightmare Beginning

wicksy5255

Hi All
I need some help asap, I have just been summoned to appear at a magistrates court in 2 weeks time but I take exception to the amount they are claiming.
Currently the LO is for £15k, and the LO covers from Feb 2002 to Mar 2013.
I am concerned because £12k of this figure was accrued prior to Feb 2002 to which most of which was accumulated by mistake but I will come to that later.
How do I appeal the amount on liability, I have written to the CSA and have an interim payment arrangement in place but was advised this won't stop the LO, I advised them that the figure is indeed incorrect but they told me I was too late to have this looked at.
What I feel has happened was some years ago my debt was farmed out to an external debt collection agency but when they were unsuccessful it was bought back internally and just added back to my account with the date it was returned ignoring when it was accumulated.
I am getting very concerned primarily because of my family, I have a wife with severe mental health problems "self harms and suicidal tenancies when her stable life is threatened" whom is also disabled, I have 2 young daughters and I myself suffer from a neurological disorder that gets worse when under stress, all of which has been appraised to the CSA but ignored.
I am applying for the data protection file & have requested a copy of my NI file from HMRC in order to compare when I worked against their assessments what else should I do....
I will be contacting the court tomorrow in an attempt to get the court transferred to a more local one for me (70 miles away) in order for me to attend.

The reason I dispute the £12k is because in 1998 they issued an AEO and took every penny I earned with the exception of my rent, I was quite literally taking home £300 per month..
This obviously forced my unemployment, I wrote to the CSA immediately to advise them, I heard nothing for nearly 18 months until a statement was delivered, they had carried on accruing based on my employed status whilst I was unemployed to which I immediately phoned them in turn I was advised "they will not retrospectively backdate the claim resulting in me owing £12k".

Your help would be greatly appreciated, my CSA account is now closed as the kids concerned are over the age of liability so no further amount will be accrued, I have always earned around national minimum and since 2002 had children in my care with my current wife and therefore spent most of the time zero rated.

Thanks in advance.

Fission

"... This obviously forced my unemployment, I wrote to the CSA immediately to advise them".

At the time you described, there was a rule which compelled the CSA to regard you as still having the income you had foregone by giving up your job: Paragraph 27 of Schedule 1 to the Maintenance Assessments and Special Cases Regulations.

http://lawvolumes.dwp.gov.uk/docs/o-8401.pdf

The bit you need is on page 8489.

But taking your unemployment at face value (not that CSA are likely to do that, as explained above), do you have a copy of the letter you say you sent in 1998, advising of your unemployment? The importance of that cannot be overstressed because you have next to no chance of getting a 17-year-old dispute settled in your favour unless you can prove that you raised it at the time.

Marisco

Fission wrote: »

"... This obviously forced my unemployment, I wrote to the CSA immediately to advise them".

At the time you described, there was a rule which compelled the CSA to regard you as still having the income you had foregone by giving up your job: Paragraph 27 of Schedule 1 to the Maintenance Assessments and Special Cases Regulations.

http://lawvolumes.dwp.gov.uk/docs/o-8401.pdf

The bit you need is on page 8489.

But taking your unemployment at face value (not that CSA are likely to do that, as explained above), do you have a copy of the letter you say you sent in 1998, advising of your unemployment? The importance of that cannot be overstressed because you have next to no chance of getting a 17-year-old dispute settled in your favour unless you can prove that you raised it at the time.

Surely they will have a copy of the letter? They should have a copy of every letter sent and received, and phone conversations as well in his file.

Fission

Marisco wrote: »

Surely they will have a copy of the letter? They should have a copy of every letter sent and received, and phone conversations as well in his file.

Maybe.

Maybe not.

Think about the possibilities - all of them. What do you know (as distinct from what you have been told) about the case?

wicksy5255

Thanks for the replies,
Soon I will hopefully know what they hold on the file for me as I have sent off an information request, but I am not expecting all of the info I have sent them in the past, I have had the statements off them so many times "well we never received it" their mail sorting offices must be an absolute shambles the amount they have claimed to not received in the past.
My primary concern at this moment is for my mentally and physically disabled wife and my 2 young daughters, I need to know how I protect them from an organisation that is renown for skirting around legal responsibilities.
I am a low earner and was zero rated until the case closed last week "albeit 2 months late" and whilst the previous assessments considered my low income and responsibilities their enforcement department don't seem to care they just seem to want to get every penny out of me irrespective of pushing us into poverty.

Any ideas.

Thanks