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

A question about : Do you have to be a child's biological parent to be forced to pay child support?

Hi.

Here's my circumstances.

Me and my partner have recently split up. My ex has a 4 year old daughter from a previous relationship. Although I'm not her daughters biological father and I've never had formal parental responsibilities, can she still take me to the CSA to make me pay child support?

I've offered to pay a voluntary contribution of Ј20 a month to her daughters trust find until she's 18, but my ex says this isn't good enough.

I don't know if this is relevant, but the child's biological father has not seen his daughter for over 3 years and does not pay child support. We've contact the CSA but they are unable to contact him and we think he may have emigrated.

Can anyone help?

Best answers:

• If your not the childs biological father then your under no obligation whatsoever to provide for her at all.
  if anything its lovely that you've offered to put somthinge away for her future but I'd tell your ex that she can take what your offering or she can whistle dixie for anything else.
• Thanks. I'm only asking because I received a strongly worded text message from my ex yesterday saying that if I don't make a more 'realistic contribution' she would consider court action. She knows full well I'm not the father (my ex was already heavily pregnant when I first met her), but she claims there's been a recent change in the law and that because I lived with her and her daughter in a 'family relationship', she can claim for child support.
  Is she just trying to blackmail me or does she have a serious case?
• Send her this link from CAB's website:
  https://www.adviceguide.org.uk/englan...nce_scheme.htm
  and ask her to provide the legislation that supports her stance.
• I think she's trying to claim I her financial obligations because we lived together at the same address for a period of time.
• She is living on cuckoo land!
  Saying that, it sounds like you have been this child father's figure, in which case, are you going to cut off contact? I assume if you would like contact as a father, you would see it fair to contribute as would her biological father?
• Are you named as the father on the child's birth certificate? If you are I believe CSA can assume parentage, but even so you could request a DNA test and prove that you are not the father.
• Being realistic. She has moved on with a new man and has a new family, you will no doubt do the same, find a new girl, maybe start a family. It seems she doesn't really want you to have contact if she is saying it will be down to her what/where/how etc so if this contact with the daughter isn't going to continue long term, due to life moving on, yours and hers, then i'd just move on myself.
  She is trying to control you and take your money for a child that isn't yours. It's nice that you offered, but even your offer has been thrown back at you and she is demanding more, threatening court etc and the child isn't even yours.
  The child now clearly has a new father figure. The mothers attitude is disgusting. She has no hold on you emotionally or financially and she seems keen to cause you problems, when she has no reason to do this to you whatsoever.
  I would honestly just move on. She is trying to cause the hassle for you that should have been intended for the real father, and you do not deserve that.
• 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.
• According to this article (which includes law references) the answer to your question is "possibly, via the courts".
  https://www.newlawjournal.co.uk/nlj/c...egal-strangers
  If it were me, I would be speaking to a family law solicitor around about now.
• 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.