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Hi all
I could do with some advice on the off chance that anyone can relate to my situation.
I am divorced, with two step children, having been separated over a year now. As a result of that divorce I have had a court order requiring me to pay both spousal and child maintenance plus school fees to my step children and their mother. This is taking 50% of my post tax income already. The legal bit here is that they are classed "children of the family" even though we were married just 6 years and they are now 18 and 12 years old. I have not adopted them nor do i have parental responsibility
Further to that, I had a brief relationship 5 months ago and she is pregnant. Baby due in April. She won't put me on the birth certificate because she knows it will give me parental responsibility and she doesn't want interference from me. She has spoken to the CSA and knows she's entitled to 15% of my post tax income. If you're adding it up, that's 65% of my post tax income gone already come April!
I have spoken to the CSA - they have told me that (a) it doesn't matter to them whether I am on the birth certificate, and (b) they don't care that I am paying maintenance already to step children, they disregard it for their calculations.
I have always been a good dad, and in the three children I have/will have, in no case will I have parental responsibilty, no right to see them, but every obligation to pay - living on a third of my net income is very dispiriting.
What can I do? the CSA won't help as they disregard my payments such that I am going to be paying much more than the 20% net income for two children in my current arrangements! I don't know how to make sure I get on the birth certificate - she has decided to ignore my calls/texts now and so I am left in limbo. Can I use the fact she is ignoring me in any way?
It certainly feels to me like the law is loaded against fathers - be they biological or natural. And it just feels noone can help me.
Has anyone any advice or suggestions for what I could do? I just want something fair for payments with access to my daughter to be and my name on the certificate so I can be a good dad.
Hi
There's a few issues here, so I think it's best if I ask the CCLC to come on here and comment, so keep checking back.
Hi,
Thank you for your post. I'm William the Child maintenance consultant.
This sounds like a pretty complicated situation, generally child maintenance is paid to a parent's biological or adopted child and this may be why the Child Support Agency (CSA) won't take the court order in to account. For confirmation of this you may wish to speak to the CSA again.
As the baby's father, you have a legal responsibility to financially support the baby. In the eyes of the law, it doesn't matter that you are not on the birth certificate. I know it's a difficult situation but I would urge you to try and sort things out amicably with your baby's mother, for the sake of both you and your child.
It might be worth contacting Community Legal Advice, which is a Government funded confidential legal service. They may be able to give you expert advice on the parental responsibility of your new baby and whether you could change the court order that’s in place for your step children's maintenance, to take in to account your change in circumstances. Their website is: http://www.legalservices.gov.uk. Alternatively, you could speak to your solicitor.
I know it can sometimes be really hard to talk to an ex-partner about money, but there is help available from the Child Maintenance Options Service. You can find tips and support at http://www.cmoptions.org, or you can speak to someone in confidence by calling 0800 988 0988.
Hi MN1970,
Thank you for your post.
Unfortunately we are unable to advise on financial matters. I would advise you to contact a Local Family Law Solicitor with this issue.
With regards to the child due in April, the mother is entitled to register the Birth without your consent and as you have correctly pointed out, this will mean you will not have obtained Parental Responsibility. There are three ways in which you can go about obtaining Parental Responsibility of this child, once it is born. The first route would be to ask the Mother to sign a Parental Responsibility Agreement. This is on a PRA1 which can be obtained from your local County Court, Family Proceedings Court or from www.justice.gov.uk.
If the mother refuses to allow a Parental Responsibility Agreement, you can make an application to Court for the Court to decide whether you should gain Parental Responsibility. This is called a Parental Responsibility Order. To file for this order, you must make an application to the Family Proceedings Court, the County Court or the High Court. You should fill out a C1 form which can be obtained from the above places. Once this is completed, it must be sent to the Family Proceedings Court. The Court will then consider the following factors when deciding whether to grant Parental Responsibility:
1. Does the father have a commitment and attachment to the child?
2. Does the father have genuine reasons for applying for the order?
The final route would be to apply to Court for a Specific Issue Order to be placed on the Child's Birth Certificate. To do this, you would need to complete a C100 which can be obtained from your local County Court, Family Proceedings Court or from www.justice.gov.uk. Once this is completed, you will need to lodge it with the Family Proceedings Court. There is a fee of £200 for this application. If you do decide to go down the Court Order route we would strongly recommend that you look at the Welfare Checklist which is listed below. This is a checklist which the Judge will have to take into consideration when deciding to make an Order:
The Welfare Checklist - section 1 Children Act 1989
a)The ascertainable wishes and feelings of the child concerned (considered in light of his age and understanding);
b) His physical, emotional and / or educational needs;
c) The likely effect on him of any change in his circumstances;
d) His age, [censored], background and any characteristics of his, which the court considers relevant;
e) Any harm which he has suffered or is at risk of suffering;
f) How capable each of his parents and any other person in relation to whom the court considers the question to be relevant, is of meeting his needs;
g) The range of powers available to the court under the Children Act 1989 in the proceedings in question.
Contact is always seen to be the right of the child and not the right of the parent and there is nothing set out in law which states the minimum amount of contact the non-resident parent should have. Please note that contact and maintenance are not linked in any way.
If you wish to obtain contact with both the child that is due and your 12 year old Step Child (please note that an 18 year old is considered independent and competent enough to make their own decisions with regards to contact), I would advise you to discuss with the Mothers’ an arrangement for contact. If however you cannot come to an amicable solution , the first stage that we would advise to take would be to contact National Family Mediation on 0300 4000 636. Mediation is used to try and resolve any issues that parties have amicably without resorting to the Court process. Anything that is agreed in mediation is not legally binding.
If mediation does not work, the final stage would be applying to the Courts for a Contact Order. A Judge would hear all the evidence put before them by you and the mother in terms of contact and make an Order that is in the child’s best welfare. Once the Order is made it must be stuck to and any breach can be brought back to Court and the Order can be enforced. As your step child is considered a ‘child of the family’, you would not need to obtain permission from the court.
To apply for a Contact Order you would need to complete a C100 form which can be obtained from www.justice.gov.uk or from your local Family Proceedings Court. There is a fee of £200 for this application. Once you complete the form you then need to lodge the form at your Local Family Proceedings Court and then the Court will write to you with a hearing date. If you do decide to go down the Court Order route we would strongly recommend that you look at the Welfare Checklist (as set out above).
If you have any further questions please contact us again via our webchat facility. The link to our webchat is http://www.childrenslegalcentre.com/index.php?page=web_chat.
Yours sincerely,
Coram Children’s Legal Centre
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