Welcome to the DAD.Info forum: Important Information – open to read:
Our forum aims to provide support and guidance where it can, however we may not always have the answer. The forum is not moderated 24 hours a day, so If you – or someone you know – are being harmed or in immediate danger of being harmed, call the police on 999.
Alternatively, if you are in crisis, please call Samaritans on 116 123.
If you are worried about you or someone you know is at risk of harm, please click here: How we can help
My ex girlfriend has recently had our baby and the minute she gave birth I started making Child Maintenance payments, I started paying without being asked to and I pay regularly (every week without fail).
Now the baby is born she has refused to put me on the Birth Certificate, for some ridiculous excuse that I need to talk about in another post (she's basically admitted that she doesn't want me to have parental responsibility).
I think if I stop paying child maintenance it'll give me some leverage.
What should I do?
Hi there
I wouldn't advise that you stop paying, regardless of her behaviour your child still needs to be supported financially. If you stop paying she can open a case with the CMS anyway and you would be required to make payments whether you are named on the birth certificate or not.
It would be advisable that you keep proof of payments that you make and the best way to do that is to pay by standing order and reference the payments as "child maintenance for (name of your child)".
Hello Lostdad28
Every parent has a legal responsibility to contribute to the upkeep of their child. This is regardless of whether they are on the birth certificate or have parental responsibility.
You can find information about getting parental responsibility here, https://www.gov.uk/parental-rights-responsibilities/what-is-parental-responsibility
There are various family and statutory options for setting up maintenance arrangements and if you would like information about those, you can contact Child Maintenance Options directly, http://www.cmoptions.org.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have a web application, ‘Sorting out separation’. It aims to make it much easier for separating and separated parents (and childless couples) to find the support they need, when and where they need it, and encourages them to collaborate on a range of issues. The link is http://www.dad.info/divorce-and-separation/sorting-out-separation
Regards
William
Welcome to the DAD.info forum.
We don’t like to set ‘rules’, but to make sure that you and the other dads are kept safe, we have some requests. When engaging with the forum, please be aware of the following:
- The forum is not moderated 24 hours per day.
- Many of the moderators do so on a voluntary basis. Whilst they may be able to provide some guidance, advice or support, they may not be able to deal with specifics.
- We are not an emergency crisis service so if you or someone else is in immediate danger, please call emergency services.
- If you are concerned about the safety of a child, please click here to find the support you can get for them (link to new page)
- If you are in crisis, please call Samaritans on 116 123. They are open 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.
We hope you find this forum a supportive environment and thank you for joining us.