[Solved] Attachment of earnings order.

Hi SWB,

I have moved this over to the finance board so we can get you some advice from money/finance geniuses CCCS. I have asked them to pop by and take a look at this query.

Hang on in there mate.

Gooner

To the best of my knowledge, the CSA only go for an attachment of earnings if the previous avenues have failed. You should have had some communication with CSA already by now, but even if not, contact them by phone initially and talk it through with them. It will be a lot easier for them if they can come to an agreement with you without going for an attachment of earnings, so negotiate with them (and stick to the agreement that you make) and you may well avoid the attachment.

Hi guys, this is my first post to the forum, hope you can help. I have been separated from my ex for 8 years and divorced for 5 years. I have 2 kids from my first marriage and 2 from my 2nd - all girls. I have paid maintenance to my ex since we split up. The relationship since we split has never been great but got worse earlier this year. My ex stopped me from seeing one of my girls - I did have shared care looking after my eldest 2 for 3 nights. My eldest is 16 and has stayed with her mum full time by choice and with agreement - gets a bit crowded round here. When she stopped me seeing my 9 year old I stopped paying voluntary maintenance (Angry and the only way I could hit back) so she went to the CSA. This was fine by me and we now have an agreement in place managed by the CSA - we all know where we stand and I am actually paying a bit less than before and I no longer get weekly requests for extra cash. The issue is the payments that I missed. I was in negotiation with her solicitor to arrange payments at a reasonable rate and had made an offer to clear the outstanding 3 months payments over a 12 month period. I worked the arrears out based on what was on the original consent order £210 per month - not on what I was actually paying which was double this amount. I heard nothing back from her solicitor so after about 4 weeks I contacted them by phone to be told that they were no longer representing my ex as she was representing herself. I heard nothing from my ex but I know her solicitor had passed on my correspondence and my offer. She has now put in an application for an attachment of earnings order for over £1000. I need to respond to the attachment of earnings order pretty soon and would appreciate any advice. Do not really want work knowing my business, and do want to get this issue off my plate. It is causing a great deal of stress in my relationship at the moment. It is also not great for my eldest 2 girls who must be fed up with the situation. I am seeing them both usually on a Sunday - not ideal but at least I still have contact. Apologies for the ramble - hope you can help with some advice. Cheers. SWB

Hi SWB

I can understand how difficult this must be for you.
However, it is difficult to remove an attachment of earnings and normally you can only do so in certain situations. I have attached a link to a leaflet issued by the CSA which explains how to appeal and whether you are eligible to do so. (Pages 22/23)
http://www.csa.gov.uk/en/PDF/leaflets/old/CSA2034.pdf

You could also try Community Legal Advice. They offer free confidential legal advice and may be able to give you further advice.
http://www.communitylegaladvice.org.uk/

Regards
Sue

SWB - can you clarify. I understood that the attachment has been applied for, and is not in place - is this the case? If so, it's worth checking again with CCCS whether you still are able to negotiate a settlement and avoid the attachment order.

Hi all, thanks for all replies much appreciated. In response to actd, the order has been applied for but not yet in place. I have to send back the Form for Reply this week. I am very willing to negotiate with my ex but she is not. She has told the court that I am over £1000 in arrears. The consent order was for £210, I missed 2 full payments then the CSA took over part way through the month when the third would have been due. My thinking is that I am only liable for the £210 per month (What it says on the consent order) and not the additional voluntary amounts I had been paying. Thanks again for the responses, will gratefully listen to any others. I will let you know how I get on. SWB

Try ringing the CSA - it's them you negotiate with and if you can come up with a voluntary arrangement with them that's the same as the order would state, it saves them the bother of the proceedings.

Hi again, Looks like I did not make this very clear. I was actually paying voluntary maintenance up to July this year following the consent order I mentioned. My ex contacted CSA when I missed a couple of payments so CSA are now looking after the case but only since July - this is actually better for me. The attachment of earnings is based on the payments I missed from May. I have made an offer to pay this voluntarily over the next 12 months but this offer has been rejected - can't afford to offer any more right now. As stated previously I have never before missed a payment since I separated from my ex in 2003. Think she just wants to see me embarrassed and to have her day in court. Thanks again.

This is a lot better for you - the CSA don't (to the best of my knowledge) backdate to before they became involved in the first place, so if you haven't missed any payments since then, I don't think she has a case. It's definitely worth speaking to the CSA - it may be that you don't owe any back maintenance as far as the CSA is concerned, so any extra payment you make voluntarily may make your ex look very silly in court - as a matter of interest, when you say your offer was rejected, who by - your ex or the CSA?

actd - thanks. As you say the CSA are not interested in what happened before they became involved. It was my ex that has rejected my offer. Spoke to the court yesterday - not very helpful and basically told me to complete the form and turn up at the hearing. Just preparing my bundle. Thanks again for your help. SWB

The courts generally take a dim view of people wasting their time. If you can show that you have offered to pay the missed payments over 12 months, and that paying any more will cause you real hardship, then I don't think they are going to have a lot of sympathy for your ex.

One thing I've just noticed - you said that you were paying maintenance voluntarily, so presumable there was no order for maintenance, and you also said that when the CSA became involved, the amount of maintenance you were asked to pay was reduced slightly. It might be worth adding up what you have paid since you started paying, and then also calculating what the maintenance figure would be over the same period if the CSA had been involved from the start (including any allowable deductions) - you may find that what you have overpaid more than covers the two missed payments.

One more thing, when you in court, it may be worth explaining why you stopped payments, but being apologetic and admitting that you shouldn't have done so (and really, you shouldn't withold maintenance because she is withholding contact - the two are separate issues) - will help if you can admit it before judge tells you off for it.

Thanks for the advice - appreciate your honest feedback. Plan is to be apologetic - I know it was wrong to skip a couple of payments but only human, feelings got the better of me on this occasion. Good idea about totting up what I have paid. I will let you know what happens.
Cheers. SWB