Help and advice over my fiance's ex CSA threat

A question about : Help and advice over my fiance's ex CSA threat

My fianc! ex strikes again!!!

Bit of background...She is a woman indeed scorned and has tried to cause as much trouble and upset for all involved. Been divorced long before we met, but still doesn't want him to move on.

He was originally making child maintenance payments direct, at an amount she demanded, as well as regular CSA payments for his eldest child. He never missed a payment. Around 18 months ago he thought it would be best if the CSA set and collected payments for both children, then it would be fair and be documented. He contacted the CSA directly and they made an assessment and began deducting payments from his account, and no more was heard on the matter.

Then 6 months later he had an updated letter from the CSA and queried the amount with them. It came to light that whilst they had worked out the payment due for both children, they had only been collecting for one, and assumed my fianc! was paying direct. They contacted his ex, who's exact words were I have checked all 5 of my bank accounts and haven't had a payment.

My fianc! immediately requested that the future payments be collected for both children and attempted to make mutual agreed repayments for the arrear (around Ј300). After a few weeks she agreed and he has made all payments without fail.

A few days ago he received a phone call from the CSA to say that his ex has requested an income review.

My help and advice is over the next part....

She has also said that she is looking at taking him to court for the arrears, which he will have to pay the cost for and she will request interest be added and my income taken into account!!

Can this happen? It just doesn't seem fair? I am so upset. I have 2 children that I financially support and have work to provide for. I don't expect anyone else to, even my fianc!.

Best answers:

• AFAIK your income will not be taken into account.
  If she claims for the Ј300 arrears, couldn't he pay that in full (you say he tried to pay it anyway) to avoid interest payments?
• She cant take him to court for the arrears. he should just keep paying via the CSA at the rate he agreed with them. Unless your partner is on CSA 1 then your income wont be taken into account for anything.
• Thank you for your comments. The outstanding money due was accrued due to the fact that the CSA had not said it was to be paid direct. They were collecting an amount that we believed was for both. If was only when we queried the next review letter that this came to light. His ex never said she hadn't received any money either. As this was not being collected by the CSA, they advised it is between the parents to agree...which they had. Payments through the CSA and direct payments to clear the missed payments are being paid regularly (apart from this mix up, he has never missed a payment). But now she has said she wants to take him to court for the missed payments and add interest and involve me. The CSA confirmed that through them they wouldn't take my income into account. I was wondering if anyone had had any similar experience through the courts. If he could pay if off in one lump sum, that would be ideal....but he just doesn't have it. He already has a big overdraft from ensuring payments for his children were made and previously worked 6 days a week just to make ends meet. He wants to pay for them, this has never been in question. It just seems that no matter what he tries to do, the goalposts get changed.
• She cant take him to court. If she tries, it will get thrown out. Stop worrying.
• Thank you for your re-assuring post shoe*diva79...very much appreciated
• This thread has some useful information which seems to confirm that she can't take him to court for the arrears.
  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=4963321
• In my experience you are on dodgy ground paying anything directly to the PWC. Our PWC is very dishonest and has played the system to get as much money as possible - even money she was not entitled to.
  One instance of this is that my husband paid her directly for a long time for the first couple of years after their initial split. (In addition he also continued to pay household bills such as the house insurance, tv licence and a joint loan as they continued to come out of his bank account.)
  When the CSA got involved due to her being on Income Support the PWC told the CSA he had not paid anything. Despite proof of regular payments coming out of the bank because they were not labelled "Maintenance payments for X (child's name) for (date) " the CSA did not count them has having being paid. As a result my husband ended up with a bill for more than Ј10,000 of arrears for money he had already paid. Despite contesting it, and even speaking to our MP the arrears were added on to his regular monthly payments and there was nothing he could do about it. It was reduced slightly as they did take into account only half the payments that he had made like the house insurance and TV license, however the loan payments were not included as the loan was not for something tangible that the PWC still had in the house that the children were benefitting from (such as a sofa). However he still ended up with a hefty bill. As a result from then on any payments made have always been made via CSA even if it costs more to do that then no one can dispute whether the money has been paid.
  My advice would be make all your payments via the CSA and no payments directly. If you cannot avoid making direct payments then make sure each payment is labelled clearly with the child's name that the payment is for and the date that payment is being made for so that there is less chance of the payment being disputed.