contact from CSA

Hi All

Last night my partner received a phone call from the CSA. He separated from his wife in 2000 and has always paid voluntary maintenance since then of £450 per month for his son who is now 17.

He has recently left the armed forces and now has a lower paid job topped up by his pension but is still earning a lot less than he was.

He advised his ex that he would have to decrease the payments at the beginnng of the year and more recently that he would have to alter the date of payment from the start of the month to the end. He had been on the CSA website and worked out that he should be paying around £240 per month. He agreed with his ex that he would continue to give his son £100 directly (he has always done this) and the remainder to her.

She was not happy about this and it set off a chain of events starting with her now taking him to court for part of his pension/gratuity. They never divorced - I think she never did as she was always waiting for him to leave the forces for her claim on his money - he could never afford to as he had to make himself bankrupt with the debt she had accrued during the time of the marriage.

The CSA worked out that he may have to pay £248 per month (£8 more!!). My partner was furious that she had contacted them as it was making him out to be a bad person which he is not. He was furious with the guy on the end of the phone, he asked him if he had ever gone to war and what did it count that he had worked for his country for the past 24 years only to be treated like this. He went on to say that should he be an illegal immigrant then he would be treated better. I have never heard him so annoyed and to be honest I agreed with a lot of what he said. I know it is not the fault of the guy on the phone but the system is so flawed.

After a long phone call, resulting in him not giving his bank details and them saying that they would simply take it at source he put the phone down on them. He then had to let his son know that he would no longer be able to give him his pocket money as his Mum was going to have it all now.

Basically, I just wanted to share my story and ask for any advice on CSA matters. He has never missed a payment to her but apparently the fact that he has probably overpaid her over the years counts for nothing in the CSA eyes.

His son is at college and he is unsure how long he has to contribute to his mother for his upkeep (he would prefer it to go straight to his son now he is older) is it 18 or 19? He will be 18 in November and may have finished college by then. She has also forbid his son to see his father and he is too scared to go against her as she threatens to throw him out if he does.

I cannot beleive anyone all these years on still has so much vengeance inside them. Everything she does shouts jealousy and bitterness, including sending me very nasty text messages recently. For a woman of 53 I would have thought she would have gotten over it by now.

Anyway - I have typed way too much!

Ness

If your partner had divorced earlier his wife would still have had a claim on his service pension. Assuming you are in England & Wales, assets acquired by one party during separation might qualify as non-matrimonial property if it can be said that the property in question was acquired by the party by virtue of their personal industry.

Many people contact the CSA when there is a dispute and they can't agree the level of CM. It doesn't reflect that your partner is a bad person. I would suggest he phones back tomorrow and apologies for hanging up the phone so he can arrange payment rather than suffer the indignity of deduction at source.

Currently the CSA has jurisdiction over CM until the child reaches 19 and is in non advanced education, up to and including A level standard. In certain circumstances the courts may order maintenance beyond that if the 'child' is in, or likely to be in, education or training.

Hi Fiona

Thanks for that. He does not have a problem with sorting out the finances with his ex and her having what she is entitled to - he would have done it sooner had he have had the money to sort it. He has always provided for his son, not only in maintenance but buys him clothes, shoes, underwear, in fact I have never seen him wearing anything that his dad has not bought. He pays for his train journeys to visit us at around £60 a time. He has always been a good dad. He was told that he gets a chance to offer to pay by direct debit which he is happy to do.

I am just sad about the fact that she has to carry on in this vindictive way making her son suffer. He was so sad last night that he can't come to see us again for teh forseeable future - he said he has had enough of it but can't do anything about it. Her reactions are always knee-jerk without any rationalsation that I can understand - so I have given up trying.

He wonders if the courts decide what the settlement would be based on - would it be their situation at the time of separation or his situation now? His pension was worth less 7 years ago than it is now so how does it work?

Ness

Hi
Hope this might help a little with regards to child support. The money that your partner spends on train fares etc for your son to have access to him will be taken into account when maintenance is calculated. If he pays £60.00 a month or a week they will deduct this for him. If the money has not yet started going through the agency pay the £248.00 direct to the parent with care, but have proof of every payment, this will be taken off the arrears. clothes etc will be seen as gifts. If his son is doing less than 12 hours a week at college, the parent with care is not entitled to anything . Please make sure you let the agency know that you pay the train fare and be prepared to provide proof in case she denies this. Do not pay the son direct support payments as these will not be seen as child support if the mother says she told you not to pay him the money (even if she did,nt) hope some of this helps.

Hi Simpleme

It all helped - thankyou

Ness

Hope this might help a little with regards to child support. The money that your partner spends on train fares etc for your son to have access to him will be taken into account when maintenance is calculated. If he pays £60.00 a month or a week they will deduct this for him.

In order for this the NRP needs to apply for a variation in imo if access is only twice per month i very much doudt the CSA will allow for these costs, my ex tried for a variation which included air fares from south to north the CSA rejected his varation.