Child Maintenance

I was never married to my ex partner aka John.
Throughout my sons life John has failed to
make regular financial contributions to his upbringing.
He has been actively encouraged to take a
part in his life and has also failed to do this consistently.
John took me to court to gain parental
rights, this was granted along with a maintenance
order of £250. I received for a total of 6 months.
John then paid a reduced amount of £150
further 6 years.
In my years of dealing with him he has always refused
to give his address details, we communicate
via email and via our son. He has also refused to
stick to the agreement of having my son throughout
school holidays and has not maintained the payment
agreement.
I wish for the maintenance agreement to be reassessed
and applied in full force.
The initial claim with the CSA 11 years ago, they knocked on his fathers door and he claimed no one of that name lived at that address.
And the closed the case based on this.
Now, the CSA claim that they are unable to enforce the previous application dated 10 years ago because there is an outstanding court order.
The solicitor claims that it may be impossible to enforce the order due to it being 10 years old.
I want to enforce this due to the fact that my son is now 15 years old and I feel that the John who is a Financial Oil Analyst has got away with murder.
Any advise or any help is duly welcome.

Did they say the case was closed 11 years ago?

I would start there. Write to the CSA making a DPA request for all the information they have on this case relating to you. Insist they send everything both in written and electronic form. Copy in your MP.

If the court made an order without the knowledge that there was a CSA case in place then it may be possible to overturn this and insist that the CSA collect the arrears from the initial date you contacted them.

It may also be worth checking out www.nacsa.co.uk

Hi,

Yes the CSA had an open case prior to the Court Order.
Thank you for your help.
I know have a light at the end of my tunnell, was feeling fed up of it all.

Thanks again

Prior to March 2003 the Courts had the jurisdiction to make contested or Consent Orders for child maintenance and the CSA still has no jurisdiction over these cases. There is no reason that I know why you can't apply to vary, terminate or enforce the order. The law says the courts don't have the power to impose an order for child maintenance, a variation or to revive an order only when the CSA has jurisdiction. See s8 Child Support Act 1991. There is nothing to say that you cannot apply for the enforcement of an effective order made at anytime.

However, for maintenance arrears of more than a year old you would need leave from the court. It isn't uncommon for leave to be granted. If you want to have payments reassessed you could ask the court to terminate the order and then when it ceases to have any effect apply to the CSA.