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Hi.,
Im new on here trying and trying to get information regarding my current rights.
To cut a long story short this involves my Ex-Wife who hasnt had contact with me for 8 years and we have 3 boys.... she has lived in Scotland and re-married with my boys over this period of time. She has inisted on using CSA to communicate with me regarding making direct payments from source... salary, and has caused a degree of embarrasment at work.
Whilst i wished for an agreed private arrangement at the begining the CSA were forced in and i was ordered to pay what i consider a ridiculous amount which is based on my salary.... this has been ongoing for a number of years and now i only pay for one son who turns 16 next month.
This all being said my ex partners new husband has never worked and she only works part time... this infomation comes from my eldest son who i have contact with but my younger ones do not communicate with me or want anything too do with me, yet i still pay regardless....
The amount i currently pay is in excess of £500 a month and this has caused a degree of upset with my current partner of 3 years, as its very restictive what we can do... The CSA tell me that payment has to be payed for a further year as i missed payments in the early years which was due to unemployment however, i feel that their total disregard for accepting any agreed reasonable offer is instantly refused.... this is required in order to maintain a reasonable standard of living for myself.....
As you can imagine i do not wish for my sons to go without but i feel the whole situation is unfair considering the obvious lack of contact and no wish to accept or respect any of my personal problems in affording such a high level of payment.
Any help on this would be greatfully appriciated... sorry for the elongated details.
Hi and welcome.
OK, firstly, the CSA do not concern themselves with contact (other than staying contact which does reduce maintenance payments), that it the concern of the parents and/or courts to decide - the CSA are purely there to enforce maintenance payments where no private arrangement can be made. The amount you pay is purely based on your income - it makes not reference at all to what you ex (or her new partner) earn, whether it's nothing or a high salary. They also calculate on the basis of when they were notified of changes, so if you notified them when you were unemployed, then this should have been taken into account, but if you only notified them of this when you were employed again, then this period of unemployment will never be accounted for. Unfortunately, the CSA also do not concern themselves with your own day to day living costs, they have a set formula based on income (with a few allowances for pensions, travel to see children etc)
and they stick to the calculation, and they will insist that payment continues until arrears are clear.
I'm sorry if this isn't what you were hoping for, but unfortunately it's the way the situation is with the CSA (even more so as they are winding down over a few years) and any appeal for them to be reasonable is not likely to succeed.
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