Bailifs gave up, what next?

A liability order was made against my ex for non-payment through the CSA. The bailifs gave up and now the case has been passed on to another dept - law enforcement I think. Anyway I've received nothing for longer than I care to remember. My question is: has anyone any experience of what happens next and any sort of timescale involved? Does anyone know if any forced house sales have actually been implemented,or passports/ driving licences been confiscated? Its sooo frustrating!

Hi Jaw,

I have no idea re csa, orders and bailifs, just wanted to say that when I could not find an answer to progress matters it was my enforcement of a CO by way of wages arrestment for an insignificant sum in the whole of the circs that brought my x to the negotiating table...why the sols had not done this appears to be the norm for many...I do hope you find your way forward.

Elle x

your case will have been to legal civil enforcement wherby they have more powers to take against a non resident parent. the action that they take will be whatever is the most suitable and include the following
CCJ - this will affect a credit rating and someone who works in the financial services industry CANNOT trade if they have one it will also affect re-mortgages etc.
THIRD PARTY DEBT ORDER - the csa can apply to the courts to freeze a bank account and withdraw funds to pay the debt and also divert income for instance if they know a creditor is just about to make a payment to the debtor. if you have any bank details at all make sure you provide them to the csa for them to check.
CHARGING ORDER - they can apply to put a charge on any property or asset the the non resident parent owns so that when it is sold the debt must be paid.
ORDER FOR SALE - this is where the property is forced for sale, the csa have only recently started to use this power and are very careful in its use, they are unlikely to take this action if it joint owned or there are children, it is more so used for those people who have a second home.
REMOVAL OF DRIVING LICENSE - quite obvious what this is they have to be careful taking this action as if driving is what brings in a person income and can be more detrimental, eg if someone has to drive to earn money but then cant drive they then have no money and cannot pay their debt.
COMMITAL TO PRISON - this is the very last straw that the csa would take if all else failed normally if a case gets this far the judge would normally grant a suspended sentance on the basis that they make payments on the amount set at court, if the payments are defaulted they would go to prison for about 2 weeks and then still owe the debt, bear in mind if your ex is on benefits this is very unlikely to happen.
as for how long does it take, how long is a piece of string each case is dealt with on its own merits and it really is a case of when the debtor gets fd up with the csa annoying them. if you telephone them the legal department will be able to tell you at what stage your case is and what action they are currently taking.

hope this helps

Can i ask you, when you say the bailiffs "gave up" how do you mean? why could they not get anything off him to sell?My heart dropped when I read your message, cos my case is just about to go to the liability order stage, and I really thought this was it, thought this was the end of the road and he would have to pay up. i can see that it probably won't happen for me either.Im sick of hearing about all the things they CAN do, but never actually do. The debt is just mounting up week on week.

When I said the bailiffs gave up I meant that my ex refused to answer the door, pretending he wasn't in. He also no longer parked his car outside his house. He hid his car in surrounding roads, parked so close to other (friends) cars his number plate couldn't be read!

This is the second liability order, the first one the bailifs collected by clamping his car, hence him hiding!

Its taken 18months to get this far
You learn to live and budget, expecting nothing, then when you do get a payment its a bonus!

I will keep you posted of any progress. I'm expecting a call from the legal enforcement team tonight.

I've had 2 calls from the csa tonight...unheard of!!

The first was to update me. They've applied to the county court for an order to enable them to put a charging order against his house, 3/4 weeks turnaround.They're keen to bring the arrears up-to-date so have posted another liability order tonight; the second phonecall was to warn me.

Provided there is equity in the house they are looking to force the sale of his house. She apologised because this may take 3 months to reach this point from today. They're looking to recover £6500.

It took 18months for the 1st liability order, latest will be the 3rd, so I will be impressed if things do happen so quickly. She was very enthusiastic though...bless!

I think three months is enthusiastic and would suggest that it is three months to the point where they gain an order to force the sale, which still has to be at a market reflective price.

How long the house will sell really depends on the state of the market etc at the time.

Also, the key is if there is equity in the house. If all the charges on it reach or exceed the current market value there would be no point in ordering a sale because the current CSA debt would stand subordinate to any prior charges.