To expect to XH to be prosecuted over the £80,000 he owes in child support?

[CreviceImp]

Bit of background. My XH has refused to pay child support for years. The CSA have been ineffective to say the least. There have been a couple of occasions whereby he has had some attachment to earnings made and payments have happened but not for years. I have given up my career as a teacher because I have a severely disabled child (and two others to care for) and have been her carer for years.He currently is self employed as a haulage driver.

The last conversation I had with the CSA (or whatever moniker they are currently using) I was told they couldn't find a firm address for him. I found one and passed it on but they said they needed absolute confirmation and they couldn't get it. I received a letter last week stating they had written to him to let him know he no longer had to pay child support but his arrears still stood. Seems they have an address after all.....

Having got my MP involved to no avail and written/contacted them numerous times AIBU to expect that he now be imprisoned for the years of what amounts to child neglect? He has refused to share the care let alone the financial burden.

AIBU to ask what this government is going to do to deal with this ongoing inequality towards women and children? I see no social justice.

It's shocking I could get in immediate trouble for stating a fact but exh is free to neglect his son financially and emotionally as he cant be bothered seeing him his son either after he left .

I think it could be deemed similar to revenge porn type trolling, harassment or stalking.

I would sign.

Happy to sign a petition for this

Hello everyone,
Apologies for the delay.

I am thinking of wording it:

Non-resident parents who repeatedly fail to financially support their children should be prosecuted for child neglect. It is child abuse and needs to be recognised as such and criminalised accordingly.

Thoughts?

Hi Crevice

How would you define failing to financially support? Would being unemployed become a criminal offence?

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/125688/sponsors/qBY8kE9yBaWIHzJUfdb5

Here is it. Please lend your support x

I have popped an amendment in there about those having the means to splendide

Good point though if I had missed it 🙂

Dear Kerry Howard,

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petition.parliament.uk/petitions/125688/sponsors/qBY8kE9yBaWIHzJUfdb5

My petition:

Non-resident parents who fail to pay child maintenance should be criminalised.

Non-resident parents with the financial means who repeatedly fail to financially support their child/ren should be prosecuted for child neglect. Failure to contribute towards housing,clothing and feeding your child/ren constitutes child abuse and should be criminalised accordingly.

Thanks Crevice, I think it's a useful way to think about the issue. I just wish the stigma was greater - I find it so depressing how many men get away with basically abandoning their first family but still find another woman who doesn't seem to think that's a problem.

Sorry have a techie issue 😀 Full statement above.

When it goes live I will post a link so this can go viral and hopefully move things along.

Everyone who thinks this is a social injustice needs to get behind this.

Tbf isn't it the nrp that does 'lose the home' usually. It is usually the primary carer that stays

assuming the NRP leaves the family home. Many don't. But even if the NRP leaves the family home (as my ex did) that doesn't mean that in anything other than the short term, the PWC is able to stay in it. I couldn't afford our home and it was eventually repossessed - ex saw no obligation whatsoever to help pay a mortgage he was named on (I was a SAHM at the point he walked out, very large mortgage obtained on 2 full time wages) and the courts saw no reason to oblige him. Many people lose their homes in a divorce situation - there is no legal right to stay in the family home just because the children live with you the majority of the time.

As I said, I would be interested in statistics - I suspect it is a problem for both NRP and PWC, rather than just an NRP problem.

Bumping your petition. Thank you for starting this OP.

Thank-you for your excellent pointer Vertigo

Did you know there is no other petition of this nature out there? Considering the impact this has had and continues to have on so many people , I find that shocking.

Just goes to show how disempowered people feel about this issue.

Does anyone know the gender figures In relation to this issue?

They may reject it. If they do please take their advice and taje on objections from other posters.

Don't forget it is in subsequent partners interests for this to fail. They don't want their partner to be recognised a child abuser nor do they want a reduction in their lifestyle.

Op..... Have you applied to the new CMS?? From February this year?

Well done for posting the petition Crevice

Crevice Thanks I will sign

Hello everyone,
I decided to join the Women's Equality Party today and have asked what their position is on the matter.

Possibly another avenue for those who feel as equally strong about the matter as I do?

WEP seem most interested in upper middle class upwards issues and CSA issues are a lower class issue, in my experience.

Crevice I'll keep an eye out for when your petition goes live and will share it too.
My ex refuses to pay anything at all even though it was court ordered over 4 years ago... and just gets away with it. He currently owes (according to the ordered schedule) just over £15,000...

If my ex had ever paid he would owe me 120k. And thats calculating on what his salary was in 1993, without any pay rises. I have signed your petition. Its too late for many of us, but its something that has annoyed me for years that I lived on 8p noodles, so the kids could have decent food, while he swanned about in a 5 bed house with a pool, flash car, RV, flash motorbike and lived the life of riley.
Good luck with your petition. I will definitely be sharing this.
This is an issue that needs addressing.

I'll sign that petition, Crevice. They're still checking it, so post here when it's live.

Realfootyfan

Surely it needs to be connected to the tax system

This. I am surprised to learn that in the UK it isn't.

In NZ a person's child support is assessed on the basis of their income tax return. So if you lie about your earnings, you commit tax evasion, which is imprisonable.

Your child support assessment can be adjusted up if your tax return doesn't reflect your true wealth.

Child support is collected by the tax department.

They have various enforcement mechanisms, although I note that the CMS has ones that are at least as powerful.

BUT BUT there are a couple of other factors that I think really get underplayed in this debate. Firstly, I understand UK family courts will typically give sole custody to one parent and the finger to the other. Here custody will be shared unless one parent doesn't want it. Shared custody means reduced child support assessments. And second, maintenance is very rare: orders for it can't be enforced after (I think) three years. So there isn't this assumption of a binary divide between working parent and child-raising parent that the UK system seems to be built on.