Page 2 | CSA debts written off

ijustgiveup · 2021-04-15T11:39:05+00:00

Am I the only one wondering how a company can write debts off not owed to them? My friend who has been fighting for years has called me devastated. She received a letter stating the CSA has written off the debt owed to her and her children to the tune of £24k! I got my letter last year and mine was £7k. How is this allowed? Both ex husbands are still not paying either

BlowDryRat · 15/04/2021 17:25

@Mumoftwoinprimary

I wonder how often the government writes off council tax, inland revenue debts and speeding fines?

Exactly this. The state shouldn't be able to effectively enable the NRP to steal their children's money. They wouldn't do it with their own money so they shouldn't do it with someone else's.

junecat · 15/04/2021 17:30

My sister had this. They wrote off £49k. Never paid a penny to her

Mrshyat · 15/04/2021 18:00

It's appalling. The £49k is truly sickening.

50/50 might be fair for some children, but not all. What's fairest for the children should be at the center of any seperation.

EnoughnowIthink · 15/04/2021 18:05

Dump kids on the women, men walk away

My ex hasn’t paid a penny in 14 years. He sees the kids every week.

It is not necessarily the case that those who don’t pay just walk away.

WhatWouldPhyllisCraneDo · 15/04/2021 18:20

@araiwa

Patriarchy innit

Dump kids on the women, men walk away

Time for default 50/50 custody to stop this happening and make men take responsibility

Because Men who refuse to pay the bare minimum would obviously do a splendid job of raising their dc. My ex refuses to provide vegetarian food one day per week for DS. How would forcing him to feed him 50% of the time benefit anyone?

Jimdandy · 15/04/2021 18:22

They’ll get away with it whilst we have a welfare state I think.

I believe the logic is because we have a welfare system that apparently tops you up to median standard of living and child support payments aren’t deducted from this anymore (like they used to be under the old old rules (think pre 2003?) then child support is seen as a “bonus”

Plus the fact we still have mostly old middle aged men MPs

Shehasadiamondinthesky · 15/04/2021 18:22

i got nothing for my sons entire childhood, disgusting. You can be damn sure if you owe tax you will go to prison for not paying it. How is this different?

FizzyTarte · 15/04/2021 18:35

I’m owed 20k+, ds’s father spent over a decade declaring he had no income and was “being supported by friends and family”.
In fact he was self employed getting cash work for welding, driving around in an Audi and a VW work van. He was happy to take the maintenance payments from his step-kids’ DP though..
What is needed here is serious reform and penalty for avoiding payments. Not wiping off debts in order to make CMS look less incompetent. Makes me sick.

Loveacoseynightin · 15/04/2021 18:38

What good would jailing somebody do?

I think the whole system needs an overhaul with 50/50 being the start. Why should the RP have the right to dictate when a NRP can have the child. This is the problem as maintenance benefits the RP so she can be as difficult as she wants in terms of overnight stays as it is in the interest of the RP. What I would do....

Maintenance not started until agreement is fully in place and sanctioned by mediator/court.

Maintenance should be based on non house related costs. Should be on food, clothes etc

Maintenance should be taken straight from Employer wage like National Insurance does. This would tie in with point1. A certain tax code given.

Any parent who has found to alienate and involve children in Adult matters should be dealt with harshly as well.

floppybit · 15/04/2021 18:39

@QuestionableDanceMoves totally agree with your point - my ex is entitled to a reduction for moving in with a woman who already has kids that aren't even his! They are being paid for by their own dad!!

Theunamedcat · 15/04/2021 18:41

Jailing someone as a final consequence would be a deterrent but CMO don't seem to want to use any consequences they said if ex was behind on his £7 a week they woukd apply to take it directly guess what? He is behind they said catch up mate it will be fine he is still behind

Happycat1212 · 15/04/2021 18:56

I think the whole system needs an overhaul with 50/50 being the start. Why should the RP have the right to dictate when a NRP can have the child. This is the problem as maintenance benefits the RP so she can be as difficult as she wants in terms of overnight stays as it is in the interest of the RP. What I would do....
I’m asking again, how do you force a father that doesn’t want to be involved to have 50/50?

WhatWouldPhyllisCraneDo · 15/04/2021 19:02

I think the whole system needs an overhaul with 50/50 being the start. Why should the RP have the right to dictate when a NRP can have the child. This is the problem as maintenance benefits the RP so she can be as difficult as she wants in terms of overnight stays as it is in the interest of the RP.

What about when the NRP refuses to have the DC because... ummm... actually I don’t know why. He just does.

MiddlesexGirl · 15/04/2021 19:03

@AmandaHoldensLips

Avoiding child support payments should be made a criminal offence punishable by prison.

There is no way to make a parent pay for their child if they don't want to.

This.

Sicario · 15/04/2021 19:03

I never received a penny towards any of the kids and there was nothing I could do about it. At times it was a real struggle to put food on the table and I often went without in order to feed the kids.

Writing off money owed for child support is a fucking outrage.

Happycat1212 · 15/04/2021 19:04

The thing is I’ve never been able to get my ex to have the children so I would like to know how someone thinks they can force him?

QuestionableDanceMoves · 15/04/2021 19:06

@Loveacoseynightin your plan assumes two things
1- that the current nrp wants 50/50 custody and
2- that they are a safe person to provide that care

What happens in all the instances where the nrp doesn’t want the kids around? Or they’re an abusive/violent person? How can there be fair mediation on the matter if there’s a history of abuse in the relationship which may not be known to the courts?
If maintenance is purely based on food, clothing costs and not housing then it would swing even more in favour of the nrp who would be able to live and run a smaller property.
I don’t think there’s that many RPs out there withholding access for the couple of extra quid a week they get especially when there is evidence of an overwhelming number of nrps not contributing at all.

In my mind the system needs a complete overhaul. Maintenance should be a legal obligation to pay on the same grounds as tax is with the same sort of penalties for avoiding. It should be deducted from wages in the same way tax and NI is to avoid any late or missed payments and there should be no reduction in the calculated payments if the nrp has additional children or moves in with someone who has children.

However, as pp said, none of the necessary changes will be made while we have a welfare state and while the majority of MPs are middle class men

BippityBobbityBoo · 15/04/2021 19:07

I’m owed 22k too and have just stopped receiving the £90 a month I was getting. Haven’t had a letter......yet. Got a feeling I will though. Outrageous.

QuestionableDanceMoves · 15/04/2021 19:08

Furthermore, there’s an argument that failure to financially provide for your DC is neglect and could be prosecuted as such.
Certainly if a RP didn’t financially provide for the welfare of their children they would likely find themselves reported to social services for not looking after them adequately so why don’t NRPs face the same scrutiny?

mikejardine · 15/04/2021 19:15

What do these letters actually say?! "Written off" or not possible to collect (due to NR parent hiding income, not having income maybe?)

I was owed £4900 from arrears from twenty years ago, CMS collected it all for me and passed it on. He didn't pay initially and a deduction from earnings order was made

MiddlesexGirl · 15/04/2021 19:27

What happens if both parents decide they don't want to be the resident parent?

PinkiOcelot · 15/04/2021 19:53

OMG that’s an absolute disgrace. She must be raging!!

My sister got SFA off her arse of an ex. She even used to get letters from the CSA about her claim saying she was owed £0! How he got away with it I’ve no idea. He must have lied on the forms. Bastard!! But then again he let his new wife shut the door in my niece’s face!!

Loveacoseynightin · 15/04/2021 20:14

@QuestionableDanceMoves read what I said. The starting point should be 50/50 and then agreements can be made from that point. Not from the point of when RP decides what's best.

Obviously that would assume there has been no abuse etc

On the housing issue why would you assume the NRP would have a smaller house? Wouldn't he need the same size house if all things are equal.

Deedeedocket · 15/04/2021 20:17

Yep had £12k written off.

My ex husband was by the way allowed to emigrate. Can you imagine if he had owed that in unpaid taxes?

QuestionableDanceMoves · 15/04/2021 20:35

@Loveacoseynightin I’m talking about the times when it isn’t equal- how many separated families have a genuine 50/50 split? How often is that because the RP is trying to grab as much money as possible from the NRP versus the NRP simply opting for less contact?

You can’t say the system should be based on 50/50 across the board and that housing costs shouldn’t be taken into account. That’s a far too black and white approach.
Look at the responses on this thread and the countless others there have been around maintenance payments- the way so many NRPs simply don’t pay for their children and even actively find ways to reduce their payments when the bare legal minimum set by the CMS doesn’t even scratch the surface on the costs of raising a child.
Do you genuinely believe these NRPs want 50/50 custody?
The law cannot force someone to be a parent but it ought to be able to make them pay for their children the same way it can make everyone pay their taxes etc