Hi all, I have just received a letter from the enforcement agency regarding arrears of £7130.00, I have 3 ildren all grown up, youngest just turned 18, I paid £600 a month without fail for years without a problem but 8 years down the line my finances have been dire and I am in debt on credit cards for £11k at the mo, My ex got a house paid for out of the court order and I was left with a 30% share of it. Three years ago my ex offered to pay me off but the deal was 27k short of what the offer should have been on the current then value of her house, I had no option to take it but in the meantime I reduced her maintenance. I have not seen two of my three children for over 6 years now and they live in the same village and ignore me when I say hello to them, it breaks my heart as I was always a good dad, I do however have a fantastic relationship with one of them and even then her mum tried to stop her seeing me but she said to her mum you can't stop me seeing my dad, sorry if I have gone on a bit but would welcome any help, I am in the process of filling out an application notice to the court at a cost of £255, how might I fair back in court, many thanks, Andy
Hi there
I'm sorry you're having a hard time of it at the moment, it must be very hurtful to have your children treat you like that, hopefully they will come round at some point... Try and remember that their behaviour has more to do with their mum than it does with you, kids can become very protective during and after their parents separation and if she has played on that, they will be encouraged to alienate you.
Have they provided you with a full breakdown of the arrears? If not you should ask for one, if you are disputing the arrears, you can open a formal complaint and appeal with the CSA/CMS. You can also go and see your MP and ask for help.
All the best
Hi, thanks for the reply, I am in the process of filling in an attachment notice so as to go back to court and challenge the original order, I guess the beauty of my situation right now is I am broke and own nothing to my name apart from my builders truck which I am informed can't be touched as it is my only way of earning a living,.
I don't have a lot of experience with the legal challenge side of things to be honest, and there's not a lot of info about this on the forum... my area is child contact. It would be really useful for other Dads here if you could keep us updated on how you get on and how you got to the stage of applying for an attachment notice,
Best of luck with it. I'm off to read up on attachment notices.