Not the father

chall1964

''• in most cases, refund any child maintenance they have paid
for the child from the date we received information from them
denying they are the parent.''

http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@benefits/documents/digitalasset/dg_198851.pdf

PreludeForTimeFeelers

halibut2209 wrote: »

Just wondering.

Suppose there was a situation where a man had been paying Child Support for 2 children for 15 or so years, and then found out that one of the children wasn't his.

Would he be entitled to be repaid the money he had given?

If he hasn't denied paternity (possibly because the thought that the children were his), then the CSA would only refund him anything paid after the point where he informed them that he wasn't the dad.

Bluemeanie_2

Marisco wrote: »

Joe Bloggs didn't know she was catting around.

I have nothing useful to contribute, but just wanted to say I love this expression! And will be stealing it.

halibut2209

C_Mababejive wrote: »

I know its unfair but thats what men are here for...to be trampled by everyone else.

Certainly seems like that sometimes!

It's a difficult one.

" Mum can swear blind she thought he was the father - she can argue till the cows come home about knowing her cycle and knowing who she slept with and when and therefore as far as she was concerned, there could only be one possible father. How do you know if she's telling the truth? How do you measure someone's capacity to both understand and their actual understanding of exactly when in a cycle you get pregnant and how there is possibly more than one father on that basis? I know university graduates who have sworn blind they couldn't be pregnant after 3 or 4 missed periods...is that denial or lack of understanding of how their bodies work? could it be possible that someone who has managed to get to university doesn't understand how their body works? It's certainly possible, depending on how they were brought up and their own level of interest in how things work."

But the fact would definitely remain that the Mum cheated on the Dad. And in the hypothetical scenario I am describing, the Dad was married to the Mum at the time. So should he turn out not to be the dad, then adultery is assured. However I believe (but am not sure) that he is named on the birth certificate.

You'd have thought that there would be some recourse for him. He had to sell his house in order to maintain the payments.

Marisco

I don't know if this is a hypothetical case or not, but if it isn't I hope that it was handled sensitively for the sake of the child. Fifteen is an awkward age at the best of times, but finding out something like that would be devastating. Given that he is unlikely to get money back, and I can well understand he'd be as mad as hell, but it might be better all round to just let it drop, rather than cause even more upset.

DUTR

Marisco wrote: »

I don't know if this is a hypothetical case or not, but if it isn't I hope that it was handled sensitively for the sake of the child. Fifteen is an awkward age at the best of times, but finding out something like that would be devastating. Given that he is unlikely to get money back, and I can well understand he'd be as mad as hell, but it might be better all round to just let it drop, rather than cause even more upset.

More BS and rumour spreading on the forum?
You have enough posts to know that a poster on here in the past after a long time found out that the child that she thought was her partner's , was not and he got a full refund, they had 'adopted' the child .

PreludeForTimeFeelers

halibut2209 wrote: »

You'd have thought that there would be some recourse for him. He had to sell his house in order to maintain the payments.

If paternity has never been denied, then any recourse will be against the PWC, not the CSA.

PreludeForTimeFeelers

DUTR wrote: »

More BS and rumour spreading on the forum?
You have enough posts to know that a poster on here in the past after a long time found out that the child that she thought was her partner's , was not and he got a full refund, they had 'adopted' the child .

I'd be interested to know if he had ever denied paternity...checking CSA legislation, there's not really anything that would back up a refund at some point down the line, unless paternity doubts had been raised - any refund to an NRP (where the PWC had already been paid) would be funded by the taxpayer.

DUTR

PreludeForTimeFeelers wrote: »

I'd be interested to know if he had ever denied paternity...checking CSA legislation, there's not really anything that would back up a refund at some point down the line, unless paternity doubts had been raised - any refund to an NRP (where the PWC had already been paid) would be funded by the taxpayer.

Found the thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1499263

PreludeForTimeFeelers

DUTR wrote: »

Found the thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1499263

Just read the thread...very bizarre, hadn't heard of that ever happening before. May be something to do with the case being old rules? Just making guesses here now, I know that I have spoken to assorted folk who confirmed that any refunds could only be back-dated to when the NRP disputed paternity.