crackerjack Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 Hi guys, Just an update. I spoke to the CSA today and they said they still have jurisdiction over child maintenance as my ex wife has gone over on a temporary visa (457), despite the fact they applied for a permanant leave to remove and have sold their house, car, given away most of their pets etc. I told them that the court order stipulates that the money is spent on facilitating contact between me and my children and that it also stated they were to visit annually, something I had now heard from my son that my ex wife is going to renege on. But they said the court had no power over how it is spent....so I have no power to ensure contact takes place. The court order is not worth the paper its written on. It means if my ex wife and her husband choose to prioritize saving up for an Aston Martin, over paying for my daughter who will still only be 14, to come and see her dad next year, there is nothing i can do about it. I am powerless and I feel utterly depressed. So then I said, well, I would like at least to stop paying for my son as he left school in oz in November and is now working full time and contributing to the household income, but do you know what they answered to that. I must carry on paying for my son until my ex wife stops being in receipt of child benefit for him, and as she is still claiming for him, I still have to pay maintenance!! I looked on the child benefit site and on the face of it she should not be claiming it anymore, http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefit/start/who-qualifies/live-work-abroad.htm but I am wondering, is there a proviso I am not aware of? Did any of you still get child benefit after you moved? If she is claiming child benefit for three children (two mine and one hers and her husbands) when she shouldn't have been for the past seven months, she will owe them lots of money so she will not voluntarily tell them the change of circumstances, as that means they will catch up with her. During the leave to remove case it transpired that my ex wife and her husband had been living together for almost two years before our divorce (something they both put in their signed statements several times.) I said to my solicitor at the time of the divorce I thought that was probably the case, but he just said I could not prove it as he had his own house. Anyway after reading their statements, I retrieved the old divorce file from my old solicitor and lo and behold, after going through her bank statements with a fine tooth comb (something my lazy solicitor should have done when I was paying him enough), it was obvious that not only was she not paying the mortgage and the gas and electricity bills herself, she was claiming full tax credits for all the time she has now sworn she was living with her husband. So she basically committed perjury in our divorce in 2004 to strengthen her case during the divorce (she said she was in a relationship but not a serious one and certainly not cohabiting with a boyfriend for two years who earnt 80k a year!). That was a painful thing to discover during a leave to remove case I can tell you. Lies pay well for her. A friend who used to be a solicitor told me that I may have been better off by about £17,000 if she had told the truth. A sum that would have made a huge difference to me, and may have meant I could have moved out of my mum and dads flat, where I lived for 4 years. And now I go on to discover today that her claim of child benefit is stopping me being able to stop paying maintenance for my son which I am entitled to do. The CSA have advised me to contact the child benefit people tomorrow to explain they are in Australia, but I don't hold my breath it will get me anywhere. she has probably given her mums address as her own. I have lost faith in justice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lebourvellec Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 https://www.gov.uk/report-benefit-fraud#other-ways-to-apply Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal2 Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 We're on a 457 and I dont think you can claim child benefit on the UK, I believe you must inform them that you are not in the country, please someone correct me if I'm wrong Cal2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramot Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 I'm not up to date, but when we lived in Brunei several years ago, some people there continued to collect family allowance while overseas, which was definitely against the rules then. One person even got someone else to sign for it in UK illegally. They were all caught out and had to repay. If it hasn't changed then you have a choice to make, shop her or keep quiet. Don't envy you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LojaChica Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 You can claim CB for 12 weeks outside of the UK and THAT IS IT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crackerjack Posted January 19, 2013 Author Share Posted January 19, 2013 We're on a 457 and I dont think you can claim child benefit on the UK, I believe you must inform them that you are not in the country, please someone correct me if I'm wrongCal2 Hi Everyone for your replies. It is a majorly stressful situation. I have been trawling the internet and I am now almost 100 % sure that they should not be claiming it (so Cal2 you are not wrong). http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/money-finance/153333-family-benefit-uk-2.html It seems they were not even entitled to claim it for 8 or 12 weeks. The reason being they are going for longer than 52 weeks (the only time period when CB can be paid for an interim period). And they are going outside the EU. These two factors mean they should have had all payments stopped the day they left the UK. Instead my ex wife has collected approximately £1400 in child benefit (I would like to think this is in error but past experience tells me this is very unlikely....see earlier posts). The horrible thing for me is that if I don't tell the CB people, I will have to go on paying Maintenance for my son who is now working full time indefinitely to the tune of approx £960 a year, at a time when I am told the family have just brought a new Imac and are saving up for an Aston Martin, whereas I have my car SORN now since Nov as I cannot afford to fix it, and have had a concrete floor with pipes showing in my kitchen for 18 months now (after we discovered our washing machine had been leaking under the floor for some time) as i cannot afford to replace it due to the costs of the leave to remove court case. All I wanted to do was stop paying for my son as I am entitled to do, but my ex wife's desire to get everything she can has made it complicated and stressful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crackerjack Posted January 19, 2013 Author Share Posted January 19, 2013 Cal2 (and all others on a 457 visa), I think this thread makes it crystal clear.....http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/news-chat-dilemmas/19467-457-temp-visa-claiming-child-benefit-etc.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lebourvellec Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 CB is now means tested, so they are going to be found out. Claiming CB therefore she is receiving NI credits that she is not entitled to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 I put my son on a plane on his own at 9 so older than that on an unaccompanied minor ticket would be a doddle. As for your ex defrauding the benefits system - dob her in! You could do it in all naïveté in writing asking for a reassessment of your CSA as your son is now working! Sorry I have no sympathy for people who rort the system. As you have the court order outlining contact details you could return to court if she fails to comply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crackerjack Posted January 31, 2013 Author Share Posted January 31, 2013 Another update. After my last post I rang child benefit office and informed them my ex is now living in Australia. I then got a letter from the csa asking for further evidence they have emigrated, so i sent the leave to remove court order, a copy of an email with her new address etc. today I got a call at work from them informing me they do not have jurisdiction and haven't since my ex moved in June. This means I have overpaid her approx £1,700. They said they could try to get that back but I said no, don't because the kids did come over this Christmas. But as I said before it is next Xmas I am deeply worried about. So I will put the amount I would have given in maintenance into an account to fund flights to fascilitate contact as stipulated by the uk leave to remove court order. At least I feel more in control now. As for the child benefit people, they said that I will never be informed as to the outcome of their investigation, but I think it is a dead cert they will be after her for the £1,500 approx they have paid her since she left the uk in June. Thanks again for all the replies I have had on this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoandJon Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 What a tough decision you had to make crackerjack - but well done for your efforts!! I'd probably ask them to send you a letter summarising what they've told you on the phone as well - just to make sure you've got clear evidence of what they said and why you've stopped making the payments in case there are any problems in the future. I think putting the money into an account to pay for flights is an excellent idea and I wish you all the best with it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurkio Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 I don't get it! There is no way on gods earth I would let my 13 year old daughter travel that distance alone. It's hard enough as a (supposedly) responsible adult!! Why don't you go see her??? Probably none of my business, but you asked! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crackerjack Posted February 1, 2013 Author Share Posted February 1, 2013 I don't get it! There is no way on gods earth I would let my 13 year old daughter travel that distance alone. It's hard enough as a (supposedly) responsible adult!! Why don't you go see her??? Probably none of my business, but you asked! It is as much your business as everyone else's on here. I have after all posted on an open forum. There are two main reasons I think it better for her to come here next Christmas when she will be 14 and a half rather than me go there for: 1.i am far from well off (and still in debt from the court case) and the cost of my flight, plus hotel for a few weeks for me and my daughter and spending money would be a lot more than my daughters flight as once she is here all her food and accommodation is paid for. Also one trip to oz uses almost all my annual leave. Leaving me no leave to spend with my wife for that year. Policing is very stressful work and our divorce rate as a profession is double the national average. My wife has stood by me through thick and thin during the harrowing process of losing my kids in this way and never once questioned the mountain of debt I have got us into in legal fees, but I think at some point our lives in the uk need consideration too. 2.my daughter is very close to not only me, but also,to my wife my step daughter,her cousins, my mum and dad (who has a heart problem so cannot fly long haul), friends, my ex wife's parents etc. it is not just about me. If she visits here she can see everyone she loves. This is very important to her. She has not just lost me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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