Help, with variation please....

Carrera74

I am filling a variation form in under the ‘lifestyle inconsistent with declared income’.

Can anyone advise what I put for this bit ‘please tell us why you believe this and how you think their lifestyle is supported’.

Do I just put that I think that he is only declaring a certain amount to the Inland Revenue so therefore the CSA’s calculations are wrong as they’re only taking into account what he has lied to the IR?

Do I then appeal once it is refused and then state my case i.e. his holidays, mortgage, renovating his house, having 2 employees (yet can’t afford to pay any maintenance since the application was made!) Or do I list all this in the variation and get my evidence now to go with the variation form.

Any help will be much appreciated!

kelloggs36

Put it all on the form and back up with any evidence you may have. You can still use the same evidence on appeal as the tribunal can ask more questions which the CSA can't. This is particularly true of the mortgage - do you have the details of how much he paid for his house? YOu can get the details from the land registry if you pay 3 quid. Do you have photos of the renovations? What does he do for a living? Can you substantiate the claim about the employees although these costs would come off his gross income and leave him with less taxable income and so is a legitimate expense. What do the CSA say that his net income is? YOu need to make a case which proves that he lives way beyond that income. So for example, if he has a mortgage of 200k yet only earns 5k per year, the CSA are very likely to accept his version of events, but at an appeals tribunal, they will ask how he is paying the mortgage and may ask him to supply a copy of the original application for the mortgage if it was very recent.

Carrera74

Thanks for that. I got the information from his last house sale and the house purchase from the land registry. He sold his last house for £93,000 which he bought for approximately £40000 and bought the new one for £193,000 with his partner. I don’t really have any evidence to prove that I think he lives beyond his means. I’ve seen the renovations myself when I go and collect my son so don’t have any photos. He’s a self employed window cleaner so I will see if I can get information on that. I have a postcard that he sent my son when he was on holiday abroad but that’s about it. Have you any idea if he will see a copy of my departure form that I send? I don’t want to cause even more friction between us but I don’t see why he shouldn’t pay his share.

I know he’s fiddling the books. He did it when we were together. Back then he used earn at least £1000 per week and I was only earning that before tax and paying the bills etc. He always said he would never pay me maintenance. It’s like he thinks it me he’s supporting. Stupid man. Grrr

kelloggs36

Yes he sees the form and he gets the chance to comment on what you have written on it.

Carrera74

I don't think I can handle anymore stress that this could cause. I'll just chase the non payment. Thanks for your comments.

kelloggs36

No probs but it you want any help please PM me. I am both CSA staff AND I won my case for Lifestyle inconsistent with declared income. And he has now paid most of the arrears owed.

Cozworth806

Lifestyle is much easier to prove of course when the declared income is very low, even with the partners earning taken into account. If he says he earns a fiver then he is clearly lying, but if he earns £200 then it is much harder.
Also the new system makes it much harder to figure out how much the partner earns.
Lifestyle seems to hav got much harder to prove, as a lot of NRP's are stating that the lifestyle is being funded by debt, although if he shows that he is paying x on the cards that factors into the lifestyle too... but you have to be mentally prepared to fight your corner.
However the mortgage alone will be around £1000pm (£130k) unless the partner put equity into the house too. So it would be easy to show that they have a lifestyle of at least £2000pm I would reckon.

kelloggs36

I can guarantee that it will have to go to appeal to ensure any chance of getting anywhere. The CSA just never, ever allow these applications.