In court the other day, I was trying to explain to a father that there was nothing that the court could do to help. The Child Support Agency were applying for a liability order in respect of about £5000 arrears of payments for his three boys. I advised that the court did not have power to alter the assessment or the amount calculated by the CSA. To cut a long story short, the only way he could avoid liability was by proving that he wasn’t the father (which was something he didn’t want to do).
Nevertheless, I let him have his say. He explained that he been paying previously through the CSA but had learnt that the money he had been paying was being used by his ex-wife to pay her ever increasing credit card debts. The boys were not seeing any of it.
He decided, therefore, to buy his boys clothes, shoes, CDs, books and other stuff. That way he could be sure that they would benefit. Paying out for these items meant that he couldn’t make payments to the CSA and he fell into arrears. That’s when he was summoned to court.
The court had no choice but to make a liability order. To rub salt into the wound, he was told that if he didn’t pay he could go to prison or be disqualified from driving.
Wife and kids eh? Who’d have ‘em?
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26/10/05 @ 00:17