Do you have to be a child's biological parent to be forced to pay child support?

Batman_100

FBaby wrote: »

You haven't directly replied as to whether you are in the birth certificate. It is illegal to put ones name on a birth certificate when that person is known not to be the biological father but it isn't uncommon practice because many people don't realise this. If you are on the birth certificate or opens another can of worms.

No, I'm not on the birth certificate.

Blindsided_2

What a lovely. Woman she sounds!
If your not on the birth certificate and are not the childs father but she expects you to pay!

For what's it's worth even when there is a duty to pay, trying to get the money is near on impossible. My ex husband hasn't paid a penny in 6 years!

I can't believe the cheek of your ex

Mojisola

The problem will be that while you don't have to pay child maintenance, you also have no rights to keep contact with the child.

Morlock

Mojisola wrote: »

The problem will be that while you don't have to pay child maintenance, you also have no rights to keep contact with the child.

And even if you were the biological father paying child support, you would still have no legal right to contact with the child without a court order.

Mojisola

The child has the right to keep contact with both parents - that's why the NRP can go to court and get an order if the other parent doesn't co-operate.

Paying CM and having contact time with a child aren't connected.

cte1111

If you were married and had treated your step-daughter as if she were your own, then you could be liable to continue to support her. This pre-dates the CSA but is still valid, they call it 'child of the family' and it specifically includes step-children.

Any child maintenance in this case would need to be court ordered, rather than done via the CMS / CSA. Here's some more information:
http://www.mylawyer.co.uk/child-maintenance-for-divorce-dissolution-a-A76048D77330/

I'm only adding this for information, as so many people seem to be unaware of it.

Marshmallow82

He has confirmed they were never married

Batman_100

FBaby wrote: »

Surely the most important question to ask in this circumstances is what relationship do you want or not to have with the child. Do you consider her your daughter? Would you be totally distraught if you could never see her again?

If you are happy to move on and forget about her, then tell your ex to get lost.

If however you want to continue to build a relationship with her, then you need to decide what terms YOU would want. Personally, I think that either you need to commit 100% to you being a dad or if not, let it go as it will only confuse the child.

If you are prepared to be committed 100%, then you need to start by agreeing contact days and maintenance. If this is the way you chose to take, then it would be morally reasonable to pay as you would if you were her biological father (by the way, does the child knows you are not?).

Now that's when it gets more complicated because nrps already have very few control over exercising rights, but that would be even more the case with you not being the biological father as as such, you have no rights at all. To protect yourself if she didn't want to play ball with the arrangement, then I would suggest you seek the help of a family solicitor right away. Depending on all the circumstances, a family judge could grant you some rights as a father.

Ultimately, it all comes down to how attach you are to that child and how much you are prepared to fight for her as it could get very complicated and even costly, but at the same time, you never know what the future will be, and who knows, it could be your only chance to be a father and you could develop a very strong relationship with her that will mean everything to you.

Well we've both decided I should still have contact. It was a very amicable superstition and we still speak to eachother. To be honest I'm not even sure whether her relationship with her new boyfriend will last as they've only been together a few weeks.

I think she only wants contact to be at times of her convenience. She works unsociable hours and so I think she's sees me as someone who'll be willing to do some free babysitting. But hopefully we'll be able to sort something out.

I regarded the little girl in question as my daughter for a while and I'm the only father figure she's ever known. We're planning on eventually telling her that I'm not her biological father at some point, but she's only just started primary school so we don't think she's old enough to understand that yet.

I only made the original post to ask for clarification about my legal position. I thought it was the case that it's up to my ex to decide contact arrangements and it's up to me to decide financial arrangements and there's nothing in law that she can do to influence that. I only wanted that confirming by someone who knows more about these things than I do.

Batman_100

Blindsided wrote: »

What a lovely. Woman she sounds!
If your not on the birth certificate and are not the childs father but she expects you to pay!

For what's it's worth even when there is a duty to pay, trying to get the money is near on impossible. My ex husband hasn't paid a penny in 6 years!

I can't believe the cheek of your ex

Well considering that we'd lived together as a family for over 18 months I felt I had a moral obligation to make some kind of financial contribution towards her upbringing. But my ex thinks I'm not making enough of a contribution and she wants it paid direct to her, not into her daughters trust fund. And she's got this idea that she can get the courts on her side if I don't meet her demands. But I know now that that's just a figment of her imagination.

I'll have to try and explain that to her and hopefully we can come to an agreement.

HappyMJ

Batman_100 wrote: »

Well considering that we'd lived together as a family for over 18 months I felt I had a moral obligation to make some kind of financial contribution towards her upbringing. But my ex thinks I'm not making enough of a contribution and she wants it paid direct to her, not into her daughters trust fund. And she's got this idea that she can get the courts on her side if I don't meet her demands. But I know now that that's just a figment of her imagination.

I'll have to try and explain that to her and hopefully we can come to an agreement.

She will not believe what posters on an internet forum have written. Don't try and explain you will not be able to convince her. Tell her in friendly terms to go and speak to a solicitor and you will be more than willing to pay whatever a court orders you to. The solicitor will within 5 minutes tell her she has no claim.