My one daughter who I dont have contact and have been paying maintenance for, was 18 in March, leaving college around that time also.

My other daughter who does have contact tells me in conversation her sister left college ages ago. Her boyfriend also on the same course also says hes finished for the year (this was back in April)

Child Maintenance arent interested in my plea as the mother is still on the system to claim child tax credits (she has a third child, so valid for one payment, but not two).

Ive informed the HMRC via the fraud department, but they do not answer to complaints.

What's triggered me today is Ive had a letter  saying my maintenance is going up and given a schedule for the next year.   Its frustrating because I know the child is not in education, but I also have no contact. 

What is the best course of action?  CMS/CSA only make changes if HMRC tell them. IF the mother exaggerates the timelines or never tells them until they tell her, im going to be paying out and it wont be returned

Hello,

I would really appreciate any help and advice in international law about child support.

Both my ex-wife and I are Bulgarian citizens and currently work and live in England.

We got married and divorced in Bulgaria four years ago and currently have settled status in England.

The Bulgarian court of law has ruled a decision about the child support, which I pay regularly each month to my ex-wife.

As my business has been growing lately, she started giving me threats that she will request bigger child support as per the British law states.

My question is whether she could apply British law for higher child support if the divorce happened in Bulgaria.

My daughter was born in Bulgaria and is not British citizen.

She lives with my ex-wife and by law I am allowed to see her every other weekend and half of the non-school days.

This is the usual /custom decision of our court.

What legal options and actions can she pursue in the British court of law. 

I am ever so grateful for any light shared on the subject and thank you in advance for your time and support!

I get esa and pip, 

I have £1200 in arrears that I owed my ex partner, I have been paying £100 per month to clear this debt that was setup by standing order,

as I have complex needs I forgot about this standing order and have overpaid maintenance by around £4000,

I told CSA I am happy for my ex partner to keep overpayment I do not wish to seek anything back,

however they have declined to take of the sum of £1200 and are still saying I owe this to my ex partner.

In my second question it was announced that pip would stop for mental health, I don't understand the link below

Disability benefits system to be reviewed as PM outlines "moral mission" to reform welfare - GOV.UK

WWW.GOV.UK

---

The Prime Minister has outlined a package of sweeping reforms to put work at the heart of welfare and...

Does this mean my money is going to stop?

I have spoken to my key worker and I am already receiving help from mental health team and complex needs team along with connections and mind,

I just don't get what is going on.

I changed jobs about 2 and a half years ago, and my wage increased by 30k. I increased the payments to my ex as according to the online calculator, and this amount was agreed between us, as it had been for the previous 16 years.  All good and well. I then hated the new job and left, and took a job with a 50k pay cut, and informed my ex accordingly and paid what the CSA calculator said to pay.

I wasn't all that keen on that job either, so decided to go part-time - meaning that my wage was now 15k a year. I have no mortgage and no rent any longer, and my bills are minimal so this was fine. However, it wasn't fine by my ex who insisted that I take on another job. As my daughter was nearing an age where she was off to university, there was only around 8 more months of payments to make, so I wasn't about to take on another job just for 8 months. The job I had may not be available in 8 months, or they may not want someone part-time - I didn't want to upset the apple-cart.

Suddenly, I get a call from the CMS who ask about my address - I hadn't heard from them in years - not even an annual statement which they have since admitted was "on hold" for some reason they were unable to tell me of (and still haven't).

Fast forward to the date when my daughter went off to uni (pretty much last week) and is no longer eligible for CMS payments (I have been supporting her directly rather than through her mother since), and I receive an email telling me that I've been moved to "collected payments" or similar. I log in and see that they think I am in arrears of around £5000. I have never missed a payment, and there is a statement from the mother claiming amounts I have paid that are drastically less than I actually paid. I uploaded bank statements to prove the amounts I paid, as well as payslips from a later period when they assumed I was still earning a bigger wage, and said that I dispute the amounts that have been claimed have been paid, and that they still have my wage wrong. At no point did I refuse to pay, and was still waiting for instructions on how to pay them the money...

This morning I receive another email telling me that I am now nearly £8000 in arrears they have sent a "deduction from earnings" order to my employer where they are asking them to take around 110% of my monthly wage.

At no point have I ever missed a payment, and have always paid what was agreed between us - the lady on the phone from the CMS said "That's what we prefer...people using the calculator online and being adults about it".

They have ignored all revisions to my wage, and still think I'm on the wage I was 2 years ago. They used to send annual statements to me, and if they had, I would have realised earlier that they had my wage wrong.

I have told them multiple times in the past what my wage is, and have uploaded proof by way of payslips and have uploaded bank statements proving the payments to my ex are in excess of what she's claiming, but it's all been ignored.

I've now resigned from my part-time job as at this morning, as there's no point working for £0; the firm is small and won't want the extra costs and effort involved with an attachment to earnings.

I'll pay bills and eek out an existence until I can draw my pension to live off.

What are my options here? Can I force it into a court or tribunal somehow, so that judge can see the evidence?

I separated from partner in 2017. We have 3 children, 2 boys and 1 girl. My eldest decided to stay with me and the other 2 stayed with her. 

My ex decided to pursue a claim with CM and after a financial audit was completed (which was incorrect) by the DWP i was advised that I was earning in access of £100,000 per year. I appealed this and we went to a tribunal which was on line due to the pandemic. Some of the statements and documents were not available but I was successful in proving that I was NOT earning £100,000 per year.

Since the pandemic and BRIXIT i have been on UC and receive £ about £800 per month. In June I managed to get my self a job as a Delivery driver for a major supermarket chain and earn £10 per hour. DWP have decided that since I am no longer on Universal Credit my income has reverted back to £100,000 per year. I have made a complaint to DWP and was wondering if anyone else has issues with Child Maintenance.

Whilst this investigation has been going on, I have made payments monthly directly into the mums account without the 24% charge. Also I now have 2 children staying with me. The mum refuses to contribute financially for the 2 children. 

Thank you for reading and any advice will be welcome.  

I have been pulling my hair out with the CSA since January this year, I have been waiting for them to review my case regards my payments and overpayments and in that time my child well now 18 has left full time Education.

I have now tried to get them to look at my overpayments and either tell me if I owe or they owe me. Due to me changing jobs and my basic changed for the previous years.

I have chased called spent loads of hours on the phone to either be neither better off understanding or phone being cut off after ringing for over 30 mins each call.

Please can you help, 

I have been trying to get information on my CSA overpayments from the CSA and they have not responded since January of this year.  in that time my son has left full time education and I have asked them to get in touch. 

one

so I don’t have to pay anymore and

two,

to look at the overpayments I have made due to arrears on my account.

For each case no one has responded to say yes you don’t need to pay and two you have overpaid, which I have provided bank statements Of payments I have made.

please help 

I need to call them with the correct information -

I called, due to Corona virus, they "arent taking any calls unless its about unemployment or statutory sick pay". Any other topic, refer to the self service website

Go  to the SSW, it says log in with a password  i selected when i signed up (I didnt - the mother did)

Go to  "reset pin" it says again give secret passwords from initial sign up - I DIDNT SIGN UP THE MOTHER DID!

Contact us - "you can write to us on the following postal address"

No other options!

So its day 13 of the demand to respond, they aren't taking calls, you cant log onto any system - how am i supposed to do anything here. 

They are demanding an inflated amount and i have 14 days to call them..... which i cant.

Currently ringing the covid line ... just to speak to SOMEONE.. but they'll cut me off again

but things have soured,

and I feel I wish to claim back the maintenance I have paid her,

on my calculation its close to £12k

its ironic when the kids got to over 18 she decided to be a complete nasty person towards me

she has also alienated my kids from me who will now not talk to me,

I feel im within my rights to ask for my money back on this occasion.

Can anyone help with my civil case against her

i'm claiming 1/3 of £200 a month for 14 years 

I intend to send her a letter before action so she can prove paternity

any advice is welcome

Now that my arrears only has been transferred to CMS  I have found this has been now added on. 19 years later. 

For that set of arrears it was back in 2000. And recieved a letter saying my arrears has been paid and to cancel D/D. Even got a payment as i over paid. But now in 2019 this DEFERRED DEBT  has been added on.

Any advice would be appreciated 

this morning i received a letter from child maintenance service team demanding £4071.70 in arrears!ei

this is in regarding my 3 youngest children who at the time were around 4 to 5 years old they are now adults with children of there own.

the last corespondence i had with the then csa was to let them know that i had a lot of contact with them ie every other weekend half terms summer holidays etc etc..

i explained at the time i was informed as i had so much contact that i didnt in fact need to pay the £5 per week i was paying at the time and after a phone call and supporting letter from my then 2nd wife confirming this to be so the csa wrote to me saying that this was indeed the case and they stopped taking deductions,

i have been unable to work since 1997 and have been on benefits ever since..and am currently on esa and high rate PIP.

i rang the child maintenance service team this morning to find out what the hell is going on..they said they had contacted my ex wife asking if she wants them to proceed in getting her this bogus claim..needless to say she insisted they do so..

i am at my wits end

i have had constant contact with my children for all their younger years and dont understand why they have decided to send me this after so many years.

please help.

kind regards peter.

Been paying CSA through a deducations order set at £30 a week as stated In their letter as of 2007

I assumed that any wage changes would adjust with payroll so forgot about it and carried on.

I have also been paying another none CSA related debt that I assumed had started coming off my wage about the same time for £20 a month.

On my wage outgoings were down as £20 debt.

I called my wages department as had a letter come through the post about 4 weeks ago to say I was changing from CSA to CMS in September and was there anything I needed to do and they said they would probably contact them shortly before or after that date but I was best to contact them.

While she was on the phone I asked them to check the £20 debt as £6000 was owing and I wanted to double check how much had come off.

She came back to me and said there wasn't any debts and the £20 a month was the CSA court order.

I said to the women on the phone back in 2007 they said they were taking £30 a week.

They said they can only go on what they have been told to pay and it usually adjusts per year based on salary increases what they pay out as CSA usually contact them.

She was as confused as me as to why it never changed. she suggested I contact CSA to find out.

So far I have left it as I don't know what to do.

CSA have never contacted me since they first wrote to me in 2007 telling me what my deductions of earning orders were and then 4 weeks ago to tell me it was changing to CMS.

I've looked at the what the debt could be based on my earnings and it could be anywhere from 18k-21k.

I earn £1300 a month, my wife lost her job last year and we have no other income other than my wage to live off

by the time I have paid Rent, Bills, Council tax and £269 a month to a load of debts when wife lost her job

it leaves me with about £150 a month for food for a family of 4, 3 adults 1 at uni full time and a 3 year old.

I don't know what the hell to do and scared they'll take everything out of the house or we'll lose the house because I can't pay the rent.

if they take nearly all my wage of me.

I thought it was coming off my wage before I got paid,

I don't understand why CSA have never written to me as soon as they saw the wrong amounts were being paid.

I've seen the horror stories in threads below this one.

I;ve even read they can send you to prison?

I wasn't to sure which forum this should have been posted, my apologies if this isn't correct and please be so kind and point me in the right direction.

I'll try and keep it brief as possible but the case has been on-going now for 3 years.

Back in November 2003 the CSA miscalculated an assessment although all the information was correct. February 2005 my ex partner (PWC) submitted a complaint to the CSA and requested an appeal which they allowed. My ex-partner returned the completed paperwork December 2005, some 9 months later. I then received notification in the March 2006 from the Tribunal Services informing me that the CSA have re-calculated the assessment and found in favour of my ex-partner and therefore the Tribunal is not required.

Now i was under Act 1 as my ex partner and i went separate ways 1996. Due to be on Act 1 my new & current partners income was taken into my assessment as total household income. The November 2003 assessment failed to take into account my partners family benefit of £16.20 per week. This is money she would receive with or without being with me. The assessment increased my liability and was backdated to November 2003 now putting me in arrears.

Now with some great help from our local Citizen Advice Service, i placed a complaint under Maladministration as all the information they asked for was provided and therefore there mistake.

Now i remember at the time, the gentleman who helped me used some Law or Act that stated that as it was there error and being government, they could not claim the back arrears from me.

Did i dream this?

In my letter of complaint back in 2006 I did state that the arrears were not collectable.

I received both an apology, applanation and told that they will not be collecting the arrears along with £50 for the trouble.

I am not sure if this means anything but i was awarded Joint Custody and Care but the family courts in 2000. I mention this as i have been told my payments should have been at a reduced rate as my girls stopped over from Friday night through to Sunday evening tea.

i have been fighting the CSA/DWP who decided that i owed money and they want it. The thing is, my case closed in 2014 with a £0.00 balance.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

The money would be very useful as I am struggling to make ends meet and they both want to have music lessons which are very expensive. At the moment just keeping head above water.

Frustrating that CSA seem to be taking so long to do anyhting about the non payment.

I said I didn`t want them to considering he had managed to escape paying anything for the 14 years that he should have been. My children suffered hardships as a direct result of his (Quote) "I`m not giving you money to make your life easier" attitude.

There was one period where they assessed him before he left the job and went self employed. They said they had his new address and would chase it up with him by letter.

Now I have received a letter saying they plan to write off the debt, which is over £2000.

My question is: Is it possible to claim the amount directly from your ex through the small claims process online? Can I request a copy of the paperwork stating the amount owed and send this as proof? I am aware I can do a SAR.

I`ve briefly searched forums and not found any examples of people doing this through the courts (to recoup the money owed).

My name is [removed - dx], I am 26 years old., From Bedfordshire.

I have 4 kids (please don't judge) with 3 mother's, 2 of whom we are good,

my youngest child's mother always causes issues

if I give her money like the other 2, she is not grateful and wants more, which is unfair to the other mother's,

she went to CSA and claimed I never got involved with my child and also went to my work place and put in a complaint, claiming I was breaching data protection

a case was brought up but I was okay as she kept changing stories.

But it got to me mentally and I eventually quit my job,

I took a few weeks out of work and worked in a new place

now CSA sent me a letter saying they'll take 50 pound each week from my new wages which was less than I was giving her,

then I received a new letter stating they was going to take 120£ a week.

At the time I was living in a shared house and could barely afford to pay rent with this new job,

let alone pay for my other kids,

I ended up working overtime everyweek and loosing out on sleep,

so I could hardly see my children,

this started to affect my health, my life and was making me really weak, I wasn't eating.

I rang them and pleaded with them,

supporting my case with what I could and saying I couldn't afford what you was taking,

but they had made it so it came straight out of my wages,

I couldn't pay a single penny to my rent,

I couldn't afford food,

or even to pay for my other children,

I eventually became homeless and turned to alcohol (iknow that isn't great, please don't judge) with no home,

I lost my job (which was night shift) I had nowhere to go.

I've had various mental health assessments also.

Until I met a very old primary school friend and he took me into his home up north in Lancashire,

he housed me for a bit while I started work, and got myself a place..

things was going okay, my mental state really improved.

Until I received another letter this morning, stating they will be taking even more money.

Is there anything I can do, I'm sure it is illegal to make someone feel so low and homeless.

If anyone can help that would be much appreciated, even if it's something small....

I just don't know what to do.

He is on basic salary and they are taking over 40 percent.

He has his own family now and cannot afford the rent.

the csa have now said that he owes £21k back payment and they intend to take anything he has and if they cant get it from him then the rest of the family will be asked to pay.

The family he is paying for eldest is 21 then 19, 15 and 11.

Because the older ones are not in employment and attend college he still has to pay for them although they can afford to run cars and have holidays abroad.

He asked his ex partner if he could pay her direct but she refused and went through csa who charge him (not her) for dealing with the payments.

I am so worried as CAB dont want to know as its a csa are government run and neither to solicitors.

How can we help my son.

Ok, today I received a letter from the csa for arrears dating back 18 years from 1999-2000 for a sum of £472. My daughter is now 28 years old and earns more money than me. I can't remember details 18 years ago. The only thing I can imagine is I went through a period of unemployment, but as far as I can remember I paid my csa payments.

How in hell can it be after 18 years they come chasing after an 18 year old debt that there is no way I can verify, don't think I own anything 18 years old.

I could really do with some advice on this, I certainly don't want to be coughing up £472 for a debt I know nothing about. Any info on what I should do would be most welcome.

I have another child who is partly financially depend on me he is 25years old and is in receipt of PIP for mental health issues does anyone know if I can include him in the calculations

My father is paying a very large amount of CSA debt, payments which cover my brother and I up until the age of 18.

However, I know that for me - this is incorrect. My mother was neglectful/ treated me very badly in my childhood, which resulted in me leaving home to live in a hostel before my 17th birthday. After I left home, she refused to declare details of her income so that I could claim EMA (education maintenance allowance) whilst I was at college- whilst continuing to claim family allowance for me as if I was still at home, resulting in me having no income whatsoever. Then when I started university, she refused to get involved with any of the forms I needed to complete. In both situations, it had to be noted that I was estranged from my mother and father in order to be eligible for support and move forward.

I understand that these payments are forwarded from CSA to my mother, but of course I dont agree she should get payment for me from when I was 16 to 18.

I am not raising this issue to defend my father, as bottom line is that he did not maintain us. But does anyone have any idea how CSA might deal with the matter regarding myself if I were to inform them?

Thank you all, Jo.

My question is, as no-one seems to be able to answer it at present, if my agreement with the CSA ended on 13 February why should I have paid a full months worth of money to them in February? My new agreement with CMS starts on 14 February (some valentine lol) so technically I will end up paying twice for the second half of February.

Now as this money is for my daughter this wouldn't be a problem but 1 her mum has aways made things difficult for me and 2 when I needed assistance from the CSA many years back they well and truly shafted me. So my thoughts are I want my money back? Is this going to be likely or possible?

Thanks,

Rich

I have been paying maintance and have gone above and beyond by paying the same volume of money whilst my daughter was not in school for a year.

she came to tell me as she lives with her mum that she was 3 months pregnant and was keeping the baby at the age of 15.

despite me not agreeing with this in any way she still went ahead and had the baby.

whilst she was out of school for a year I still paid the full amount agreed even when I was not required to do so.

since then my daughter has not contacted me at all despite me paying for items for the baby and paying full money for a year.

to top this off her PWC opened a claim against me many years ago which has now come to light despite me paying her what we had agreed and not missing a single payment.

The CMS have now sent me a letter stating that I owe over £9000.

I have contacted the CMS and since this has happened myself and the PWC came to an agreement.

this I have stuck to despite my disagreement with this being claimed but according to the CMS I have no choice.

This has now gone a step further as the PWC has no choose to go back to the CMS for the outstanding money even though she contacted them and so did I and I was confirmed on the phone that this had be closed and she only had 30 days in which to change her mind.

120 days later after keeping up with the agreement that we had and both signed they are now saying that they can reopen the case despite telling me that this was not possible and wouldn't happen.

they are saying that although she called in and cancelled on the 7th july and only had 30 days to change her mind

she then phones in on 1st November for them to tell her she can now claim all of the £9000 supposable owed due to the fact that they had said I was closed and all the paper work had been done there end they had simply not sent out a letter to state that it had been closed. there error not mine.

due to this they are now saying that the 30 days was from the letter and the case was still open.

can someone please advice as it has taken them a grand total of 2 hours to contact me to tell me I owe money and have said that I will receive this in writing in 5 working days.

yet I have waited 120 days for them to send me a letter to say the case is closed and to date I have still not received this.

How can it be that they can send a letter in 5 days yet I wait for 4 months and still no letter.

there must be something within the law that says this is wrong and needs to be changed

as the fact that they didn't follow procedure and didn't send me the letter even after 4 months

showing me their level of incompetence that this letter or lack of has now cost me £9000 purely due to there incompetence.

can any one please help any information would be appreciated.

CSA has been in touch and have been given the figures etc on what to pay

In regards to amounts,

If the Ex who is now engaged (proof in paper) is living with the guy and he has a very successful buildings company

Should my payments stay the same even knowing this information ? or would they lower knowing that she is with a new guy earning loads ?

Thanks all

Any advice appreciated

Teresa

numerous phone calls with different people saying different things, wrong calculations, threatening letters, and no reply to letter of complaint to the office address given on the letter.

seems like all letters to them are ignored and they say different things on phone calls.

The CSA closed there file on the 11th Feb but collected the arrears on the schedule, CMA have assessed payments but starting the 7th March leaving quite a shortfall in payment.

Ive been on the telephone to both companies and told theres nothing they can do about the period in between which is alomst a months payment.. is this right as they both state that the paying parent has a legal obligation to pay????

This has also gone the same as receiving nothing for the first 14 months of our separation..

No wonder my ex first agreed to direct payment and then worked the system, its the children i feel sorry for not myself..

Any advise would be appreciated as to what i can do

Hadituptohere