Solicitor for child support?

[EndoTheRoad]

ExP and I split 8 years ago. He's contributed nothing to our son's upkeep since!

DS and I moved abroad last year to be with my new DP and, apparently, we have no case with the CSA - just spoke with them on the phone.

Has anyone, if no joy with CSA, taken matters further, eg, solicitors/courts, etc?

Thank you for any responses.

does he have money to contribute?
no point flogging a dead horse....
is he involved in your son's life?
are you and dp able to support and pay for his upkeep?

Once you've moved abroad, as you've found out, the CSA are no longer interested. A solicitor also cannot help.

Frankly this is something you perhaps should have thought of before you moved.

Please don't rely on the advice given on a forum. Of course a solicitor can help. When the non resident parent lives abroad and isn't working for an employer based in the UK the CSA has no jurisdiction but the courts do. Because the CSA can't help it is open for you to apply for a court order for child maintenance either in the UK or abroad and there are reciprocal arrangements with many countries for the enforcement of maintenance orders.

Thank you for your replies..

cestlavielife, he certainly has money to contribute - flash cars/home and holidays. I believe he has property in Dubai and maybe Tokyo, too.

Since our split, he barely saw our son. It's about the same as he sees him now - every school holiday/term times, etc.

My son will be 13 this year. Growing kids require £££s! Why shouldn't exP help and why should I have to fight for what's rightfully DS's?!

STIDW, DS and I are abroad - exP is in England. The next moved, I suppose, is to get in touch with some local family lawyers and hope for the best!

CSA should of pointed you at REMO (but they never do despite having the info on their website). Are you in a country that is covered be this? If so you probably simply need to contact the courts in that country to get the ball rolling (as you would contact a UK court if it were him that had gone abroad).

You may not need a solicitor, I guess it depends on whether you can communicate with your local court effectively. You may simply need an interpreter perhaps. Look here for advice for people resident in the UK and what countries are covered. You can then probably start to track down how to approach it for whichever country you are now in.
www.officialsolicitor.gov.uk/os/remo.htm

Oh and the as ever useless CSA have the info here on their website www.csa.gov.uk/en/case/remo.asp