Getting put on Birth Certificate...legal implications..

rchddap1

Hi,

My almost step-daughter is 16 in a couple of months. Her Dad and I have only really known her for a couple of years now. At the moment her father is not listed on her birth certificate as her father. However, her mother has started talking about putting him on.

Whilst this makes him a very happy man, he of course wants to find out the legal implications of doing so for both him, his daughter and her mother.

Her mother is on benefits and so he is worried that the CSA will try and obtain back dated maintenance from him, which he cannot afford at the moment. If he is forced to pay maintenance would that affect her mother's benefit payments?

The daughter is turning 16, but is going to go on to do study at college.

After being members of this site for a while now both her Dad and I know that it is always best to find out the consequences than just going ahead and doing it. What do you folks think?

If it would be problematic (financially) to get him put on her birth certificate now, would it be possible to do so in a few years time after she has left full time education. At the end of the day he wouldn't want to jeapordise either her mother's, or his daughter's entitlements to various benefits, grants etc...

Thanks for the help

margaretclare

Hi

I don't think it is possible to alter a birth certificate i.e. getting Dad's name put on it so late in the day. It isn't even possible to alter your given names if the ones on your birth certificate are ones you don't like! In cases of adoption, a completely new birth certificate has to be made.

Have a look at this site: http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/births/parentalresponsibility/index.asp

They give a phone number for Parentline Plus, and you may be able to get more information from them.

Aunty Margaret

rchddap1

Thanks for the link. I kind of automatically assumed that it would be possible, but as you say, its not clear on the site. I have found an email address where queries regarding this sort of thing can be sent and have done so.

But assuming that it can be done...what are the legal & financial implications as far as benefits for mother & daughter (further education payment), and of course my parther?

Spendless

rchddap1 wrote:

But assuming that it can be done...what are the legal & financial implications as far as benefits for mother & daughter (further education payment), and of course my parther?

I might be totally wrong but I'd always thought if you were the childs father you could be chased for maintainance payments. I didn't think that whether or not your name was on the birth certificate came into it.

rchddap1

Probably true. However, at the moment mother and father have a good relationship. She doesn't want or expect anything, because she feels that she stopped him from seeing his daughter all those years ago when she was born. However, if I remember correctly if you are on benefits and have children the CSA automatically get involved.

At the moment her dad is able to help mother and daughter in other ways (buying clothes, a bike etc... all those extra bits and peices that she needs). What he doesn't want to happen is that the birth certificate is changed, the CSA pick up on that (due to benefits), chase him for payments and then for him to be unable to help his daughter and her mother in the ways that he does at the moment.

Her mother has 4 other kids and at the moment his money is going to directly help his daughter. If that had to change it won't be her that would benefit...it would be the other children. I could explain this further, but lets just say that his daughter is a softey, and the other kids are rather loud, boistrous and essentially can walk all over her and their mother.

Currently we looking for a wheel for a bike because the other kids took her bike and bent it out of shape. He has given his daughter other things...and the other kids damage or destroy them. The spare money he has he uses to make sure that his daughter has what she needs.

I hope this all makes sense.

Also, due to her mother's situation the daughter will get the full amount for continuing her studies. For her this is a substantial amount and she is intending to save it to put towards her future. He wouldn't want his daughter, and her mother to be worse off financially by a simple act of putting his name on a birth certificate.

Don't get me wrong. He's not trying to avoid paying for his daughter. He lost her many years ago and feels honoured to have her back. He just wants to put his cash to best use and doesn't want to do any damage to either her mother or daughter

Spendless

Members with more knowledge and/or experience of CSA can probably help you better but if the mother is on benefits hasn't she already been asked by the CSA who the father of her kids are?

Murtle

It says that you can do it...I'm surprised, as I always thought birth certificates couldn't be changed.

I don't know if you looked at this page http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/births/canichangethebirthrecordatalaterdate/birth3e.asp

but it explains it there, the PDF form says that

"what is re-registration?

adding the natural fathers' details to a new record of your child's birth where

- your child was born in England or Wales
- you and the father were not married to each other at the date of your childs birth and since that date you have not marreid each other
- the existing record does not show any fathers particulars

both parents must give approval for it...

there doesn't appear to be any timing of it either!!

Good luck

(the father doesnt have to be on the birth certificate to warrant payment from the CSA in my experience)

rchddap1

That question I don't know the answer to I'm afraid. But its only been for the past couple of years that she has known how to contact the daughter's father. Due to various reasons when she was born he was left out of the loop / wasn't sure about being included on the loop (6 of one and half a dozen of the other). Took a lot of effort and courage on both sides to get him and his daughter together, but it worked out in the end.

He just doesn't want to jeapordise mother's benefits, but also daughter's entitlement to education payment thingy, uni fee payment, grants etc.. (if she decides to go to Uni that is). As her father he wants to help her...not cause more problems for her.

I hope this is all coming across okay, as I don't want it to sound like he is avoiding paying for his daughter, as this is not the case. Mother and father have just agreed another method of doing things.

Spendless

I'm sure there was a thread on the benefits board recently about the EMA and whose income it took into account.

As for Uni I should imagine that the people on the student board could help with how things are worked out.

I'm not sure about maintainance payments for stopping on at school/college. I think my neighbour was once telling me about a difference for higher and further education but as I have no knowledge I couldn't say.

jellyhead

the CSA chased the father of my son for maintenance payments, he isn't on the birth certificate but i was asked at the time of claiming for him who his father was, i told them so they chased him, he didn't deny paternity and he did pay for a few months before leaving the country. anyway, that's irrelevant, all i meant to say is that the CSA or income support people etc. ask who the father is when the claim is made so they will already have his details on record, or that the child has no known father, whatever the mother told them at the time. i don't think adding his name to the birth certificate will change any of this, the CSA are a shambles and don't look for the people they're already claiming money off - i doubt they'd do a random check to see if any existing IS claimants can provide them with fathers details for children they've been claiming for for years. worth asking the childs mother what excuse she gave them at the time, it might have been that she just didn't know where he was.

8 years ago when i asked i was told that when the babys father decided to stop trying to 'find himself' up a mountain in india he could get his name added to the birth certificate at any time he chose as long as i agreed. there was a form to be filled in, i had to give my consent then he had to take it to a solicitor or magistrate or something. it wasn't very expensive but he never bothered to do it. when he came back i got the form for him and filled my bit in but he didn't do his bit. so i assume that you can do this at any point.

if at some point the CSA did come looking for you they would take the money from you (fifteen percent of your income i assume) and keep it themselves. if the girls mum is on benefits then she doesn't get the money you pay. i think there might be some kind of rule now where she would get to keep a fiver a week or something, but it's a new rule since i came off benefits so don't quote me on that. i can't see it benefitting her other children though really, most of it would go to the government to reduce the amount paid by taxpayers to support the family. the mother might already know about that rule, is she with the father of her other children?

so anyway, i don't think the birth certificate is of interest to the CSA, they will chase people with or without their name being listed. i don't know how the birth certificate will affect her education, sorry. it was many moons ago that i went to uni and back then the fathers income was only taken into account if he lived with the child. my grant was based on my mums income only - absent fathers and even stepfathers living in the childs home were disregarded, it's probably changed now.

Fran

If the mother is on Income Support and has known the whereabouts of your partner for a couple of years she should have informed them. If you are on Income Support the CSA automatically get involved whether you want them to or not. By witholding this information she could be asking for trouble and maybe her benefits stopped while it is investigated. The only reason CSA won't chase the father is if there is danger to the mother and/or child, but as you say in this case they get on ok then this is not a reason. If she is on IS, she would only benefit from maintenance payments by £10 (I think this is the amount) - the rest gets taken off her IS as income so it would not benefit the daughter much at all. Your partner should be aware that he could be asked for backdated maintenance should her situation be found out. I would suggest he gets advice from his Citizens Advice Bureau about this.

Re the EMA - this will be based on the mother's household income as she is the primary carer and does not live with your partner, so that money will go to the daughter.

I don't know about going to uni, you could perhaps post a question on the Student board or look up individual colleges on the net as they usually have a lot of information on their websites.