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Hi
I am looking for advice on the strange situation that I find myself in. it goes like this.
I was a teenager that got with a girl, the result was that I had a son, myself and his mother were not compatible, and we split up before my son was 1 year old.
The mother would not allow me to see the child so I applied to the court for a access order, which the court only allowed me access for 1 hour a week at the mothers house. I was not happy with this and told the mother that if that was the only access I was going to have then I would walk away from her and the child, it is not something I am proud of but that is what happened, this was back in 1984.
As the same time (1984) I was in court for an access hearing the court also made a child maintenance order, as I wasn’t seeing the child then I was angry and didn’t pay the court order, so the court put an attachment of earnings on my wages, this money was then paid directly out of my wages, it was always paid and when the child left school i got sent a letter saying that I had over paid, I received a check for the over payment and I was told the payments would stop. this was 2001
Fast forward to 2019 I get a letter from the child maintenance services saying I owe them over £35,000, I told them I had a court order for maintenance that was paid by an attachment of earnings from my wages, the CSA said prove it they want a copy of the court order, I don’t have this as it happened 35 years ago, I phoned the court and they said they don’t keep copies of the order from this long ago.
So now the CMS have started taking money from my benefits as I am disabled and not able to work.
I would be grateful for any advice as I don’t believe I owe the CMS anything.
My first question how can I get evidence of a 35 year old court order ?
And my second question any alleged arrears would be under 2003 CSA rules and they say areas cant be taken from benefits,
I am also in touch with my son, and all is good with this relationship, although I have plenty of regrets for thing I should have done earlier.
that is madness. they have process where you can go to a tribunal to sort this out. speak to them about this. also worth contacting your local councillor/mp to help you with this.
I would also question the proof they have that you do owe this money.
Hi thanks for the replies,
as for going to my MP then I just got a new MP and I thin gt they are going to be busy for a while, but it is an avenue that I may have to go down in the future.
And as for the appeals then the CSA say I owe them money and it is up to me to prove that I don’t owe it, how can I prove that there was a court order for child maintenance that was made in 1984 and I paid this until the child left school in 2001.
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