Legal Sanctions timescales

jjj1980 wrote: »

Wanted to ask if anyone has any experience re timescales of court dates for legal sanctions. CMS submitted the relevant paperwork to request a court date four/five weeks ago. They don’t have any idea of how long it will be be before a date is booked and won’t be able to tell me the exact date of the hearing even when they get one. I’d just like an idea of when I should next hear something. - depends on the court, there's no easy answer.

The Financial Investigations Unit are still in process of completing their work but have already been able to provide some supporting documentation in regards to undeclared income and bank accounts. - It's strange for a court date to be requested and for investigation to be carrying on. The evidence would need to be shared with the defendant ahead of court. So this doesn't really make sense

CMS have confirmed to me that the NRP has received their letter telling him that attendance at the hearing is compulsory and that an arrest warrant will be issued by the court/police if he fails to attend. - the police, rightly, do not issue warrants. The letter also told him that the possible outcomes are removal of driving licence, removal of passport or committal to prison, any of which could be suspended if he agrees at the hearing to a payment plan and keeps to it. He is not aware but due to his past behaviour and non-compliance, they have put in the file to the court that their preference is for committal to prison. - largely irrelevant. The court decides sentence. And it's not going to be prison. This led to him calling CMS, admitting that all the previous times he had agreed to payment plans and promised to set up a Standing Order he hadn’t actually done so. He then promised again to do it, at the previous agreed weekly amount but has only made one payment two days later and then stopped paying again. He was supposedly very worried about the case going to court in case his family and friends found out! - well quite right The CMS asked him if there was someone who could pay the debt for him in full to avoid the hearing and he pay them back but he admitted that his relatives and friends have been told he has always paid in full, occasionally paying more than his assessment! They confirmed that the only way now to avoid a court hearing is for the debt to be settled in full, including all fees for Liability Orders, bailiffs action and Collect and Pay fees. - Largely irrelevant though. If he doesn't have the money, then adding on fees isn't going to help

The total current debt is split into two parts, debt that was built up while the case was with CSA, which has a Liability Order secured against it, has been through multiple bailiffs and is the debt being taken forward for legal sanctions. There is also an equal further amount which has built up since the case was transferred to CMS. This debt will have a Liability Order application submitted as soon as the Legal Sanctions hearing for the old debt has been completed. Whether I have been told correct or not, I have been informed that this can then be fast-tracked to Legal Sanctions based on the past history. So leading to a second Legal Sanctions hearing.

jjj1980 wrote: »

The investigations which are still ongoing are related to the CMS debt, not the CSA-accrued debt which is why the papers have been filed now. The legal sanctions hearing is for the older, CSA debt only. They are waiting until that action is secure before taking action on the debt accrued since the case with CMS started. - ah I see. Apologies it wasn't clear at first

From the information given by CMS and from research online, it’s a compulsory part of the documentation that CMS submit for the hearing request that they have to specify a preference of which sentence would be most effective. - yes, but the courts aren't going to send someone to prison in these circumstances. It is believed by them that he does not have a valid Passport (I don’t know how they know just this is what they have said), removal of his driving licence would stop him from working altogether as he drives a private hire vehicle so they have suggested prison sentence, even if it is a suspended sentence. - Which would also stop him working I suspect.

They have already had proof that he has sufficient funds to pay, based on bank statements for the period the debt was accrued during and since. They have told me that plentiful funds is paid in, within a few day’s to multiple accounts then withdrawn a few days later. He had initially denied having more than one active bank account but they have already confirmed to him that they have proof of his other accounts.

His reason has always been that I get child benefit which he thinks is more than enough, that I have no rights to ask him for any money as he believes all responsibility for children lies with the mother and that he should only have ever been involved in the fun, lighthearted parts of parenthood. That he should be allowed every penny of his earnings to spend on himself. - sounds like a total piece of... I have all this recorded in multiple texts and letters from him. It was written by him in the response section on the divorce paperwork and it’s in recorded police interview notes when they detained and questioned him over threats to assault me and burn my house down with me and DD inside. It’s also on the call recordings made by the CMS.

Comms69, I get from your comments you either don’t believe the details of this or you disagree with the level of enforcement having to be taken. - It's the latter. The courts aren't going to imprison him. Either way, you haven’t lived this case for the past 9 years so all the negativity and doubt in your comments really isn’t helpful. - I have no doubt that he has acted like a complete so and so I accept on an open forum people can’t be prevented from replying but I would really rather you held off questioning everything any further. I gave background so people could understand why I am anxious that this doesn’t continue to drag on any longer than it has to.