CSA

I had to give my job up to care for my son, I only receive carer''s allowance.

Not at all happy wrote:

I had to give my job up to care for my son, I only receive carer''s allowance.

It''s quite likely that protected income will kick in then.

Don''t just accept the assessment when you see it. Check it carefully or have it checked. Few staff at CSA have experience of CS1 calculations and chances are it will have errors.

Spoken with the CSA today. For ease of reference we''re on the old rules. CSA originally set a payment of £ 75 pw per child, this was endorsed on a court order in 2004 until children reaching 17 or completing secondary education. Until July this year we were paying for 2 when the eldest left college and now paying for 1.

Husband (M) queried why we had received this letter and the new amount considering some 11 years have passed and we have Court order in place. Person M spoke to was very helpful, apparently our file should have been closed years ago because of the court order. Ex wife should have informed them of the order, they never knew it existed. This letter we received was generated because the child benefit dept informed the CSA that benefit was no longer payable because she is now 19 and working. CSA told M because of the court order they shouldn''t be involved and told us to ignore letter and stick to original terms.

I thought maintenance clauses in court orders can be over written if issued after march 2003? Person at CSA was confident that since our case was opened in 2001 we can keep to original order. I''m not convinced and guess we will find out over the next few months if ex tries for a reassessment. It''s on file now that there is court order and also that we have a disabled child!

YOu have been given the correct information. The CSA has no jurisdiction when there is a court order predating 3rd March, 2003. If your husband''s ex wants the amount to be reassessed she would need to apply to court for a variation.

Our court order is 2004, we told her that but she was confident it couldn''t be over written!

Maybe because it was assessed under the old rules then converted to court order it has to stay under the old rules which means the ex will need to apply to court for variation.

I can''t imagine her going to that that much trouble, but having said that she may well do so just to wind us up. We asked CSA if they will notify her saying she wont be getting the extra £200, they said no. I dontwant trouble on my doorstop so we are writing to her, also telling her the court order and our son are now on record!