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Hi,
Brief overview:
I have a 14yr old and 10yr old. Divorced 10 yrs, still only communicate with my ex via very brief texts when it suits her. We have court orderd contact. She has residency but I see the boys regularly with a 4 week rota giving 8 over night contact stays and school holidays roughky split in half.
Over the last year my ex has allowed and encouraged the boys to not come in my court ordered time. Since January I have had 19 nights contact refused. In general I get a last minute text saying something to the effect of "the boys wish to stay here, I hope you understand and support their decision as we do" .
This has been against my wishes and I have replied saying i do not agree and would move but not lose the time.
If I refuse the changes the boys are not at her home when I go to get them and are not there at any suggested time i ask to move contact to so I have no way of keeping the contact.
The CSA have now been infomred by my ex of the nights I do not have them and my payments have increased by nearly £100 per month.
The CSA have looked at the period reported which covered a lot of lost contact against my wishes. They have estimated that over the year my contact will be 102 nights changing my bracket. I have calculated that over the year I will have the boys for 104 but they will only forecast over the period she has reported and not look at the entire year, nor will they re pay me at the end of the year when it shows 104 nights were had.
I cannot go back to court to get the order enforced as I know my mid week contact will be taken away as my son is now 14 and my ex will (wrongly) argue he needs stability in the week as his GCSEs approach. She has hated this mid week contact I think the boys will not wish to side against their mum on anything at the moment.
Do I have any route direct with the CSA as at the moment my ex is being financially rewarded for breaking court orders?
If I were to go to court as a last resort could I request the application fee to the courts and extra CSA payments which came as a result of my ex withholding contact be paid by my ex?
Hi
The problem you have is that the only way you can enforce the court order is to go back to court, and the last thing you want to do is to try to get the court to order that your ex repays you the fee and maintenance, as a court might then take the view that you are trying to enforce simply to reduce your maintenance payments - I don't think that would sit well with the court.
In terms of a direct route to the CSA, there is the variation process, plus the various appeal procedures that come from this if you think the decision is wrong.
If you think that you will have your son for 104 days, you could try paying the CSA only what you think should be paid (but pay the extra into a savings account just in case) and applying for a variation. The chances are that this will be declined, so you then appeal. Assuming that the process hasn't changed (it's been about 5 years since I went through it, though from the other side) - the next step is a tribunal which both you and your ex attend to state your case, and at this point you can show the court order, argue that she is reducing contact to increase maintenance payments (though the CSA in theory work on the technical details, the tribunal have more leeway in their decision) - bear in mind that this process costs you nothing but time in the process and attending the tribunal. If the decision goes against you, you can appeal this (and if they refuse to allow you to appeal, you can appeal directly to the commisioner). This whole process takes quite a long time, which works in your favour (if the original decision goes against you), as it will give you time to build up a record of contact so you can hopefully prove that you have 104 days contact, in which case the final decisiopn could be in your favour. If the worst happens, then the final decision goes against you, then you have to pay the arrears, which is why you put the money aside in a savings account in the first place.
The CSA should have a leaflet about the variation process, along with the form that needs completing.
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