My friend's daughter, who is in her thirties, got married a little under three years ago, to a man of about the same age. They grew up in the same area, where they still live, and were friends before becoming romantically involved.
They are both well-paid professionals, and when they got married they agreed that neither wanted children and that he would have a vasectomy so that they could stop using contraception.
Some time later, however, she discovered that she was pregnant, and, worse, the time limit for a termination had already passed by the time she realised. He claimed that they must have had sex too soon after the vasectomy, but now I'm wondering whether he ever had it.
Very soon after this, he announced that he had met someone else, and was moving out. They agreed to divorce and to have the child adopted. I don't know what order any of this happened in.
AFAIK the divorce proceedings have gone smoothly, but he has never signed the adoption papers. Before the baby was born he announced that he and his 'new' girlfriend wanted to adopt it, and so it was handed over at birth (more than a year ago now). Adoption by a stepparent can be initiated after six months, yet somehow there's still no sign of it happening.
In the meantime she has received a CMS claim/assessment and is having to pay a substantial amount every month.
All this has been relayed to me gradually over the phone by her mum. They're both surprisingly robust about the whole thing, apart from being on the hook for maintenance. But her mum is annoyed because she's now heard on the bush telegraph that he and the 'new' girlfriend have been together intermittently for years, during which time they were TTC unsuccessfully (she hasn't told daughter yet).
They're not expecting me to help, apart from lending a sympathetic ear, but I'm just amazed at how this has happened. FWIW I don't think he's a Machiavelli - I think he just got into a muddle.
I do think he's a CF to be accepting money from her now though, even though he's legally entitled to it.
IABU not a CF
IANBU is a CF