Lump sum for arrears....

Help!

Ok apologies but bit of a long story......

I lived with my daughter''s dad & separated in 1998 when she was 16 months old (we weren''t married). He saw her a handful of times then dropped off of the radar.

I met someone else and got married.

In 2003 my daughter''s dad won the lottery (not confirmed but word is it was 1.6 million!) I ddn''t make any kind of financial claim because I felt tha it was inappropriate as he had no contact with her ( my husband was controlling and abusive and forbid any contact)

The marriage ended in 2006 (whole other story!!!!) & in 2007 my daughter started seeing her dad again. I was on income support so the csa automatically got involved but could not do a calculation because they didn''t have any evidence of income!!!

At the time I was going through an acrimonious divorce, was in and out of court and had the csa chasing my ex husband so I didn''t follow it up also I didn''t want to jeopardise the relationship between my daughter and her dad.

We moved away & I remarried, my daughter has regular contact with her dad but just recently finances have come to a head and I''m really annoyed that he has not contributed a penny or even offered. When we went on holiday last year I asked of some men to help with her ticket & he ignored me twice but when m husband asked him he gave us some. I think in total he''s paid about £500 since 2007.

I asked him for maintenance recently and was again ignored so I phoned the csa again who were worse than useless. I''ve now decided that I''m going for a lump sum + maintenance (we''re both working our backsides off whilst he does nothing)

He has 2 properties (that I know of) and a static caravan on a holiday complex. He owns the 2 properties jointly wih his ex partner (they have 2 kids). The word is that he gave her 100k when they split and she also has a static caravan on the same complex. She doesn''t work and has no financial worries ether.

On one occasion he gave me a cheque for her school trip (he paid half the cost!!!) and it was a Coutts & Co cheque!!!!

What I want to do now is go to court and claim a lump sum payment but I don''t know what would be considered reasonable

Help!!!

Erm. On what grounds would you claim? You were not married and the lottery win was a long time after you separated.

You say the csa have not helped because there is no evidence of income. Is there evidence of assets or of a lifestyle not compatible with claimed income? If you can direct them to these and provide any evidence you have, they may be able to reassess him and go after arrears.

Hadenoughnow

Whilst I understand what you''re saying he still has a financial responsibility towards his daughter and yes his lifestyle does not match what he allegedly doesn''t earn, the problem with the CSA is that they want/need hard evidence and there''s only so much I can give, the rest is hear say.

The fact that he has ignored polite requests has really got to me and I don''t see why we should struggle and my daughter go without when her father has more than adequate means to provide for her. I''m not asking for a fortune I''m asking some reasonable financial help, think I will be better off going down the court route

Ps. Assets (that I know of) 2 houses, a static caravan on a holiday complex, a classic car & the car he drives. The 2 properties are jointly owned with his ex.

I think I''ve already answered this already today elsewhere, or at least a very similar post. The courts have no powers to order child maintenance when the CSA has jurisdiction ( s8 Child Support Act 1991.) Arrears of child maintenance can''t be backdated before the date the CSA received an application.

As Hadenoughnow says you can ask the CSA to carry out a variation. When the CSA receive an application a basic assessment is carried out. It''s then is up to the Parent With Care to apply for a variation if the non resident parent has assets worth more than £65k (excluding their home.)

Once a child reaches 18 and finishes full time non advanced education the CSA no longer has jurisdiction and the "child" in their own right may apply for maintenance whilst they are at uni from separated parents.

You would need to take legal advice to see if and how this would be possible. I am not sure that it is possible to ask a court to order payment of arrears when there was no original order. It could be expensive too.

It may be worth exploring whether your daughter could take him to court. This may not be a good idea for many reasons and she may not want to.

It is a shame he seems to be ducking his responsibility in this way.

Hadenoughnow

The CSA got involved initially in 2007 but were unable to continue because there was no evidence of income! When I contacted them afsin recently they said that I would have to do the leg work with getting evidence and if I felt that strongly that his lifestyle did not reflect his income then I should consider telling HM Revenue & customs!!!....

I will see how they get on this time but in the meantime I''m going to get legal advice. It seems unfair that both myself and my husband are working all hours to keep a roof over our heads and pay all the bills when the ex will put the equivalent of what I think is a reasonable amount into a fruit machine without a second thought.