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Hi,
I was wondering if anyone out there can give me some sound advice. Three years ago, my ex got the CSA involved, not a problem. My son (14 at the time), told me that I could pay it straight into his account and this was all okay with the CSA, I obviously checked with his mum to see if this was alright, she agreed. So I payed it via BACS so I had a record of monies paid. I later checked with the CSA that this would be okay with them, they said that it needed to be paid to them to go back out to mum, then she would transfer it to my son.( She and her husband both had good jobs and were happy for all the money to go to my son),and the CSA said that any money paid to my son would be taken as maintenance. All okay so far, skip two years, the I am now paying via the CSA, I have sent in all my bank statements in to show about £3000 have been paid into my sons account, checked again that this will be okay, reassured by CSA that payments to my son will be taken off any monies owed. They then call my sons mum, and basically she finds out that if she says to the CSA that the money paid was pocket money and not maintenance, I am liable to pay it all over again! She and her husband are now having financial problems so guess what, I get shafted, I have a very good relationship with my son, see him a couple of time a week, give him extra money when he needs it, and now Im getting hit for £3000 I have already paid because someone has got greedy. Now I am in a hole as I am now unemployed, my maintenance bill is £0, but still given my son £135 this month, but as I have a debt the CSA are telling me that the bailiffs will be calling soon!!! I have also had a job interview and have worked out that I will clear £2000 a month but will have to pay £600 a month to the CSA, this would leave my with £0 after mortgage etc. This seems so unfair as I have always paid my way, always been there for my son. Help, its driving me mad.
Wow that sounds incredibly tough boris - do you have anything in writting from the CSA to prove you have had their ok to pay it directly to your sons bank account ?
Hi Boris
Sounds very tough indeed. Unless it's changed, the CSA have to go through various processes before they get to debt recovery agencies (ie the bailiffs), one of which is a hearing - make sure you go to this and you can put your case there, and with the documentation you have, you may have a chance of having the debt removed.
If it does get to the stage of bailiffs, the simple rule is do not open the door to them - they cannot force entry, but have to be invited in. This is a bit of a vague definition - an open door or window is, I think, classed as an invitation and once they've been invited in once, they can return and force entry on any subsequent occasion, so don't let them in at all. It may seem a bit daft, but if you need to speak to them, speak through the letterbox. However, the debt doesn't go away, so assuming it is determined that you do owe the debt, make arrangements with the CSA to pay the arrears over a period of time and begin paying, that way they are a lot less likely to succeed in the next steps of getting a charge on your property and they would have no chance of having you imprisoned as you would be paying the debt.
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