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Hello,
9 years ago my wife at the time took my daughter to her native Australia and has remained there ever since. This was done without my consent or any court order being in place, as my daughter had lived with me as her sole provider until that time. Once in Australia I agreed to make regular payments for the maintenance of my daughter, this was agreed by a UK court and amended 6 years ago when I started a new family. However the Australian CSA have been actively pursuing me through the UK courts for the last 2 years to scrap this agreement, impose their own assessment and have me pay off their own calculated A$60k of debt. I have now reached the stage where my acquiescence to this nonsense must end as it threatens my ability to pay and even visit my daughter. Can I refuse the orders from Australia as I believe they are illegal under Article 7 of the Hague Conventions? I believe my rights have been impinged as she was taken without consent and I would like to use the money to have her visit the UK.
Thanks
Hi
I'm afraid that the Australian CSA have a reciprocal arrangement with the UK. I'm not sure whether they are able to override a UK court agreement in the same way that the UK CSA can do. I think it might be worth having a word with the Citizens Advice Bureau as this is fairly specific advice you are after, and I don't think it's an area that either the CCLC or CMO can give advice on here.
I am in the exact same situation. I have been paying through the Finance Unit at the local court for months. Australian CSA asked for my tax records going back 10 years and are now asking for £700 per month and AUD$38k in arrears.
The first issue is that I have taken on currency conversion because they set the amount in AUD$ and so it fluctuates every single month. This can immediately put you in arrears at which point they hit you with a fine. Then for every month you are in arrears you get another fine.
Off to court at the end of the month for an income and expenditure hearing. I re-married, my wife is expecting our second child, we have two children from her previous marriage and I also pay maintenance through the CSA for a non-resident child from a previous relationship which I only pay £350 a month for!
Australian CSA are a nightmare!
That sounds terrible....I know next to nothing about the Australian CSA but it sounds even worse than here!
Best of luck with it....you might like to think about contacting your MP if things don't improve
Holy resurrection of this thread.
Just wanted to add I am in a similar situation with the Australian CSA, currently I have £27k of arrears and they have now contacted me to say I need to pay them £550 per month. I emailed both the Australian CSA and the UK Court acting on their behalf last August 2018 to tell them my situation had changed, as now divorced from my current wife and now paying UK maintenance for my two children here in the UK. No reply so emailed them in Dec 18, Jan 19, May 19 and June 19. I have not heard anything from the Australian CSA regarding my request for a reassessment but two weeks ago received a letter from the UK Court demanding a financial income and outgoings form to be completed! I emailed back with all my P60's as I still believe the calculations incorrect, and told them I was disgused at their complete incompetence.
Its just an ongoing nightmare.
Wow, that's pretty useless on their part if they are chasing you for arrears. Will be interesting to see what the outcome is.
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