I have written several times about the dark cloud of worry that has been hanging over us since July when completely out of the blue Robbie received a £17,000 bill for child support for a period almost 15 years ago when he was living with his ex partner and their children! To say that the last few months have been a living hell would be an understatement. Trying to get CSA to listen or respond was an impossibility and even with the help of our MP it has been an uphill struggle dealing with CSA. They seem to take the word of the woman without question while choosing to ignore all our evidence to show that he was living with his ex at that time.
Finally about a week ago we got a letter conceding that he did not owe £17,000 but insisting that he owed around £2000 because they still insist that he was not living with his ex for one of the years in question. This is based only on her word, the have chosen to ignore evidence from the bank that they had a joint bank account, evidence of his address from his employers at the time, tax documents, monthly bills etc. It seemed as if there was very little that we could do to provide further proof but we were determined not to give up. Robbie has always loved and supported his children and the suggestion that he had failed to support his family was as painful as the prospect of having to pay a large sum of money to the government that he didn't owe and could not afford.
Thankfully there was another piece of evidence and we hope very much that it will be accepted as conclusive evidence that he was with his ex for the whole period in question. Thanks to a very conscientious employee at Virgin Trains who kept meticulous records and also thanks to colleagues at Cross Country who went the extra mile and searched back through the files we feel a little more confident. We now have copies of a statutory declaration that was sworn in front of a solicitor and signed by the ex stating that she and Robbie had lived at the same address as a meaningful couple and that Robbie had supported his children for the whole period now in dispute. Surely that will be enough!
Please keep your fingers crossed for us. I am not usually a vindictive person but I really hope that justice prevails and that she doesn't get away with abusing and defrauding the system!
The fact that Robbie and I do not have the same surname seems to throw people into a state of confusion especially when it comes to letters. It makes it a little more difficult to address the envelope, so most people either use only my name or they miss me out and just address the letter to Robbie. The other day the postman handed me a rather beautiful looking envelope as well as the usual run of the mill post. I put Robbie's post, including the attractive envelope on the table for him, but I couldn't help picking up the mystery envelope and examining it more closely. It was neatly addressed and the envelope seemed to be hand made from quality paper with just the right amount of decoration on it. It spoke of subtle good taste and attention to detail, the more I thought about it the more suspicious it seemed. Robbie does appreciate quality, but his tastes are quirky to say the least and he is a stranger to subtlety. I wondered if he could he possibly have another woman and if so how did he managed to fit her in to his hectic life?
I made up my mind to be close by when he opened his post and I contented myself with making a mental not of all the jobs that need to be done. It seemed only fair that if he had surplus time and energy that I should benefit from it - by the time he got home I had a very long list of chores. I watched him closely (while trying to feign disinterest) as he opened the envelope, A big grin spread across his face and then he did an excited little dance, it wasn't what I expected, surely he would have been more furtive if he was up to no good? He saw my bemused expression and explained that the card was for both of us, it contained some exciting news from one of our friends - but that is a story for another day!
