Child support/liability orders and disability

[Kaya]

Hi Everyone, I'm very pleased I have found this forum and it seems to be packed full of good advice, I'm in a bit of a pickle and am in need of some good advice, I'm 40 years old and severely disabled, I have a degenerative spinal condition which is getting worse on a yearly basis and have been unable to work for about 5 years now, my condition is inoperable and degenerative and I am in reciept of DLA and Incapacity benefit, I am on antidepressants, anti anxiety tablets, high strength opiate pain killers and get very depressed as a result of my condition.

I live with my wife in a house which she has bought and owns(she works very hard and I'm on benefits).

When I stopped working due to my illness I began recieving letters/phone calls approx once a year demanding varying amounts of money from the CSA, the tone of some of the phone calls were very intimidating and threatening, the amounts varied from £28,000 to £2000 and on receipt of each letter I contacted the office by phone and explained my situation, each time they suggested that I should get a credit card to pay them with!!

Despite knowing that I have only benefits to live on and due to my medical condition am unlikely to return to work , I told them that I was only able to pay a few pounds a week and heard nothing more until approx a year later when I would receive another demanding letter to which I would reply in the same manner, I wrote to them enclosing copies of my medical reports and asking for an explanation of how they had reached there figure but recieved no reply until a year later when another demand for a different figure would arrive, with hindsight I should have sent the letters recorded delivery.

I recieved a letter stating that unless i pay £20,000 within the next 7 days they will seek a liability order in a court and instruct bailiffs to seize goods or imprison me/remove my license etc. I explained once again that I have no savings or assets and could only afford a few pounds due to my disability but was told that they will go ahead and seek the order anyway, I have been threatened with this a few times over the years verbally by CSA staff but they have obviously chosen not to proceed with it and not bothered notifying me of their reasons, I am getting more and more distressed by their actions and my mental and physical health is beginning to suffer as a result,

I dont dispute owing money but have yet to recieve any correspondance other than my annual demand for a different sum each time, I have trawled the net looking for information on my situation and have found that I fall under the vulnerable persons catergory as listed under the national standards for enforcement agencies and also that my wife needs to fill in a statuatory declaration of ownership for all the goods of her's in the property, can I just put that she own's everything within the property or do we have to list everything separately?(my only possessions are clothing and a few old tools) everything else belongs to my wife , she brought the house after I went on benefits and furnished it as well, I have written to the agency again and enclosed my medical records, copies of previous correspondence and outlined what I have written in this post as well as benefit entitlement all of which i will send by recorded delivery and also requested that the liability order be undertaken in a court more local to me so I can attend,


any offerings of advice on my situation would be gratefully recieved however small, I'm not sure what to do next but dont want to wait and see if I get another letter in a years time or if they bother seeking a liability order on this occasion, should we send the CSA a statuatory declaration or produce one in court if they try and get the order granted? Can the bailiffs force their way into my wifes property?
Thanks for taking the time to read my post

[Happyolddog]

Re: Child support/liability orders and disability

You don't say in your post what ages the children are and when you left the family home. Also when you stopped working and how much your income was up until you stopped working. These are major factors in determining how much you should be paying.
I can tell you from the CSA website that for the past 5 years you would have no more than £5 per week to pay regardless of the number of children involved. This is based on the benifits you are in receipt of.

From the CSA website.

The flat rate of child maintenance is £5 a week - no matter how many children are involved.
The non-resident parent pays a flat rate for child maintenance if:

• their net weekly income is between £5 and £100, or
• they or their partner who they live with gets Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance or Pension Credit, or
• they are getting one of the following benefits:
  • contribution-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
  • State Retirement Pension
  • Incapacity Benefit
  • Carer's Allowance
  • Widowed Mother’s Allowance, Widowed Parent's Allowance, Widow's Pension
  • Severe Disablement Allowance
  • Industrial Injuries Benefit
  • Maternity Allowance
  • a training allowance approved by the Department for Work and Pensions
  • Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments
  • a War Disablement or War Widow’s Pension
  • Bereavement Allowance
  • a social security benefit paid by a country outside the United Kingdom.

[Kaya]

Re: Child support/liability orders and disability

Hi Happydog and thanks for the prompt reply.
The child concerned was born in 1987 and is disabled, i have been on benefits since 2004 and the liability order application is for july 2000 thru to june 2004, i have never had any assesment or means testing forms from the CSA and my salary for the period would have been around 25k PA, the medication i am on makes my memory a little fuzzy , i left the household in about 1988,

[Happyolddog]

Re: Child support/liability orders and disability

Hi Kaya,

You really need to contact the CSA and state your case, also confront them with harrassing you over the years and months, tell them about your medical conditions and ask them to do a proper assesment. Contact them via this link: http://www.csa.gov.uk/en/contact/

Good luck.

[Kaya]

Re: Child support/liability orders and disability

Hi again,
i have spoken to them every year and explained my situation and replied in writing, it almost seems as though every year a new staff member finds my case and sees an easy target then has no interest at all as soon as i explain my situation to them, then a new member of staff starts and the cycle continues, i have copies of the previous letters and my medical notes ready to post to them now but wondered if adding a statuatory declaration in with it would make any difference? Clearly they think i have some hidden assets( i wish) and maybe a declaration would prove this, im not bothered about a bad credit reference from a court as im never likely to be in a position to apply for credit again, should i copy the letter I'm about to send and e-mail it also?, i will send evertyhing recorded delivery from now on

[enaid]

Re: Child support/liability orders and disability

Hello Kaya,
Don't know if you have gone this route or not, but here is info on complaining about the CSA.

http://www.csa.gov.uk/en/PDF/leaflets/new/CSL308.pdf

[Amethyst]

Re: Child support/liability orders and disability

Were you making payments direct in the period 2000 - 2004 ?

[Kaya]

Re: Child support/liability orders and disability

nope, i had recieved no contact from the csa during this period, no assesment, and nothing previous to this either!

[Amethyst]

Re: Child support/liability orders and disability

Did you have any arrangement with your previous partner ?

[Kaya]

Re: Child support/liability orders and disability

There was no previous arrangement with my partner for maintenance to be paid, no application for maintenance was made(pre csa) there were reasons for this but they are a bit to personal and painfull to go into on a public forum

[Amethyst]

Re: Child support/liability orders and disability

Of course, just so we know the reasons they are chasing for that period.

Do you know when the first contact/application was first made to the CSA ?


also have a read here Legal Beagles

AFAIK they can backdate as far as they like - so maximum 18 years - this is not like a normal debt so Limitation Act does not apply.

[Kaya]

Re: Child support/liability orders and disability

As far as i know the other parent would not have made a voluntary application, we havent spoken in about 20 years but im sure she would have been on benefits for the entire time, maybe the csa forced her into applying?

[Amethyst]

Re: Child support/liability orders and disability

Yes. I know when I applied for IS I had to apply CSA too because they docked my Income Support until I did it. Think its a 20% sanction until you complete the CSA forms.

So if she applied then the question is why havent the CSA contacted you until so long after. I think you need to speak to them.

If no payments were made in that period and you were eligible to make them, which it sounds like you were, then the debt will be valid.

So really you need a breakdown of the debt from the CSA and work out exactly what you will be liable to pay.

[Kaya]

Re: Child support/liability orders and disability

sounds reasonable, but im permanently disabled and on benefits with no assets, no matter what the amount they come up with i simply cannot afford to pay more than a few pounds a week from my incapacity benefit(which i have told them), i have letters from hospital consultants stating that my condition is inoperable due to the amount of spinal damage and also stating that there is a marked degenerative change shown on scans and that im never going to get any better, i dont have any rich family that will leave any inheritance either, i feel quite helpless.

[Amethyst]

Re: Child support/liability orders and disability

They can't reasonably ask you for more than you can afford.

You need to try again talking to them where the amount has come from and exactly how it is made.