CSA taking DH to jail. HELP I need advice

[sockmonkey]

DH has arrears with CSA payments from his first marriage as he was in & out of work. When we agreed that the kids could be adopted by their step-father we were told that the case would be closed and the matter dropped.
They have now come back saying we owe over £3000 in arrears and they are taking the matter to court tomorrow, to get a liabilty order, which means they can take him to jail for non-payment.
DH is out of work, and we are living (barely) on benefits, and just can't afford the £125 a month that they want.
We have offered to pay them the money we can afford to each month and they have basically told us it's the full amount, £125 per month or jail time (then he still has to pay).
I have 2 little boys who need their daddy. Can antone offer any advice. I am so deperate here.

What they told us is that they want the full balance of arrears paid off in 2 years. They have proof that we do not have enough money coming in to pay that balance off in that time period, so they will continue on their course of action resulting in prison. It just all seems hopeless.

Will let you know how things go at court today.
The hearing is at 10am.
Thanks for the well wishes.

Bloody CSA make me so mad. Yet another situation here that causes so much stress to families who quite clearly want to do the right thing. I will not bore you with my story but please stand strong today.
best of luck in court today and please let us know how it goes.
Wishing you all the best. x

Hope it all goes well sockmonkey. What a nightmare.

Any news sockmonkey????

Any news SM?

Bl**dy hell! That's terrifying! Hope you can let us know how it went.

Good news. My wonderful MIL has given us her entire savings to put down as a lump sum against the arrears, bringing the monthly payments down to just about managable. We will have to tighten our belts till we look like victoria beckham, but DH will not be going to jail.
Thank you all so much for your thoughts & wishes over this very very stressful couple of days. It's really good to have someone to talk to about this.

Hooray, your MIL is a star. So pleased for you

Ohh good

i know that credit cards etc cannot take more thanyoucan afford by law. i would hope this is the same?

bit late there! sorry!

That's good news.

I'm bumping this thread because we may be facing a similar situation. DH inadvertently missed one week's payment a couple of months back and all hell has broken loose. He understood from the woman he spoke to that because his full arrears can't possibly be paid off in two years, they will be taking out a liability order on behalf of his ex, even though she hasn't contacted them. The arrears are a finger in the wind figure the CSA came up with after not contacting DH for 6 years.

That can't be right can it? We could lose our house (for which I and I alone have been paying the mortgage for the past few years). DH has no income at present so I am paying the child maintenance assessment.

Can this really be right?

Absolutely not. You have no legal liability whatsoever to pay child maintenance for your dh's children. See the CAB or get a solicitor on legal aid. This is absolutely not right.

I'm so sorry you are in this situation. We have had nightmares with them too (they can't even adhere to the outcome of their own appeals process) and are at our wits end.

I hope you get some help with this soon.

again, i wouldn't worry too much. my ex owes three years worth of payments. partly because he refused to cooperate and partly because it took the csa so long to get a liability order on him, and even longer to enforce it. he is now paying £15 every two weeks (when he can be arsed)...this covers his debts from year 2004/2005 and only because the bailiffs were sent round several times.

he doesnt pay regular maintenance, just his debts from that period. until he pays that off they cant chase him for the rest apparently. didnt your dh pay maintenance for 6 years?

DH had an informal arrangement with his ex on and off during those years - no records unfortunately. The CSA got back involved, came up with a figure and backdated it to make up the arrears.

Unfortunately this has all been confirmed as true as DH has spoken to them again. Either he pays a quarter of the figure pretty soon or they'll take him to court.

DH's first two kids are almost grown up. We have a one year old who could lose the roof over his head. Where is the child "support" in this?

im sorry to hear of it from this point of view as im on the other side and they are so rubbish its unreal

never heard of them throwing anyone in jail. i hired a private investigator just to prove to the idiots that my ex lived where i already told them he did. it was only then that i saw any movement at all. do you mean a liability order?