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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

What would you think of a man who did this?

20 replies

Namechangedtodayforthis · 12/09/2023 15:50

I ended things recently with someone after quite a few years together. Lots led up to it in the end and it had become quite toxic, but the final straw is playing in my head and I wanted to know what other people think of it.

So this person who is now in their 50s had a child with a youngish woman (19 Id say) when he was about 22. They lived together for a while, but split up after a couple of years. He says her family estranged him from the child and made visiting her difficult. He lost all contact with her when she was about 4yrs old. He comes from a country where child support is paid directly to the government, it comes out of your salary, and there are penalties and fines for not paying.

Anyway he left that country and came here when he was about 30, and never paid another penny. Although he should have, so he has a huge debt to the inland revenue in that country now. I only found this out after several years together, and asking him to visit that country, which is when he told me he couldn't because they would take his passport and not let him leave until he'd paid the debt. We had actually visited once before and I didnt know this but they had contacted him and he promised to start a payment plan, but didnt. So now really is in big trouble with them (he hid all that from me at the time).

What would you think of someone who did this? He says it was not fair, the payments were financially crippling him, he wasnt able to see the child etc. I guess Im feeling sad about it all, and thinking about the good things, and want some reassurance that it was really was pretty unforgiveable behaviour, especially concealing it for so long (apparently it wasnt my business!).

OP posts:
Missedmytoe · 12/09/2023 15:52

I wouldn't think highly of him.
Do you know for sure that he was prevented from seeing his child? I do understand that not being able to see her was painful, but presumably he could have challenged this through official channels.
He should have helped financially for his child.

Thedogscollar · 12/09/2023 15:56

I'd think he was a liar and didn't want the financial responsibility of having a child.
He sounds unreliable and you are well rid.

TheFinerThings · 12/09/2023 15:57

I Would think he was a shitty person.
I was a child who’s father never paid support. We were poor. I’m talking not enough money to put a coin in the meter for gas & electric to have hot water to wash before school, and home made chips for Sunday lunch because DM couldn’t afford meat.
I’d judge the hell out of someone who didn’t want to make sure his child was fed and left his country to make sure he didn’t pay a penny.

coxesorangepippin · 12/09/2023 15:57

I wouldn't think highly of him

jeaux90 · 12/09/2023 15:59

I'd think he was a liar and a disgrace.

CatchHimDerry · 12/09/2023 16:00

Agree with PP, shameful on his part

10HailMarys · 12/09/2023 16:01

I’d think anyone who didn’t support their own child was a shit. I also think he could probably have made more effort to see his child instead of giving up on her.

FallopianTubeTrain · 12/09/2023 16:02

I'd think he was an absolute nob cheese.

ArcticLingered · 12/09/2023 16:12

Too many men seem to equate maintenance payments with access rights. If anything they actually have an inverse relationship - inasmuch as if the child were to live with them 50% or more of the time, they wouldn't need to pay anything.

I find it hard to believe anyone would not want to provide for their own child, whether circumstances dictated that they can see them or not - but obviously this is the world we live in. There are a lot of selfish arseholes out there.

Namechangedtodayforthis · 12/09/2023 17:41

Yeah thanks all, I know all that to be the truth. I wasted years of my life on this person. The hardest part for me was not being told, I feel like I was lied to, although it was technically withholding. Not knowing this big thing which would have made a lot of the smaller similar stuff make more sense. It was the last straw when he told me, I lost all respect for him.

OP posts:
Valhalla17 · 12/09/2023 17:44

Children aren't a "pay per view" service....so I wouldn't think highly of him tbh.

MissMogwai · 12/09/2023 17:47

I'd think a liar, a shit dad, and person in general.

If he can abandon his own child, not provide her, and lie about it for years, what else is he capable of.

Butterfly44 · 12/09/2023 17:52

No respect for men who deliberately withhold child support payments. Presumably the amount is based on what's affordable. On the other shoe imagine the single mum and child who has not had any financial support, it's expensive doing it in your own.
It's just morally wrong.

Hubblebubble · 12/09/2023 17:53

Children aren't pay per view. Even if their was parental alienation, he still had a joint responsibility to feed and clothe his child. He deliberately chose to evade his responsibilities towards his child. How can you fancy him?

Namechangedtodayforthis · 12/09/2023 18:04

He didn't tell me until we had been together 5 years, so I wasnt able to make a decision about him based on it. I think the mother still got support from the government, but not as much as it would have been if he'd paid what he was supposed to. She is an adult now, he reached out to her on facebook, she didnt reply.

OP posts:
Delphinium20 · 12/09/2023 18:40

Sounds like my DH's father. He remarried when DH was about 5 and I've always wondered if she knew the truth about him.

Elvis1956 · 12/09/2023 19:01

However from a male view point (and I have mates in this position). He is being asked to pay for a child where he has no contact because his ex is barring him from contact and her family is aiding this, the only tool he has is financial. He may well have said I will naturally continue to pay but I wish to see my child.
I have several friends in the UK who's ex's live with someone and they are not allowed to see their children, despite court orders to the contrary. They are still expected and do pay via the csa for their children.

It's a different position to be in. You want to make sure your child is ok, b but the only lever you have to try to force access is not to do so

Namechangedtodayforthis · 12/09/2023 20:16

He left the country with no intention of ever going back. I dont think cared less about what his childs life was like.

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NeverDropYourMooncup · 12/09/2023 20:23

I reckon that the cost of flights, finding somewhere to live, getting a job, paying fees and all that leaving one country to set up in another involves was far greater than the pittance he baulked at paying for the benefit of his child.

jeaux90 · 13/09/2023 10:01

My DD14 hasn't heard or had a penny from her dad since she was two. She doesn't even mention him. Lucky I don't need his money.

My nieces and nephews were ignored by theirs for years, paid nothing to my sister. She massively struggled financially. He got in contact with them when they were all over 18. He has been ignored.

These men are disgraceful.

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