Process for obtaining contact

[smallereveryday]

Can I please ask the experts on here the process for obtaining contact when the father is not named on the birth certificate.

I was advising someone about this and thought I knew the process quite well.
DH went through it when he found out 3 years after her birth that he had a daughter from a very brief liaison nearly 4 yrs earlier (by which time we were married)
His child's mother refused any form of contact or acknowledgement that DH was the child's father . Also refused mediation so DH had to make an application for PR and then a child arrangements order.
I advised someone that these were the steps needed. That until PR is established no contact can be considered.
Now someone else has stepped in and is telling them I'm wrong and that anyone can apply for contact and that PR can be considered alongside contact but is not dependent on it.
Have I got it wrong. I really don't want to give the wrong advice.

Yes you are incorrect.

He should complete C100 to apply for a child arrangements order, and C1 to apply for PR, if he wants PR.

If mother denies paternity, the court will give directions for DNA testing.

Yes anyone can apply for contact. This doesn’t mean they’ll be granted it but they can apply. My DCs grandparents were awarded contact. Neither of them have PR.

Thank you very much. MrsBertBibby and ILoveMaxBondi
So if that happens can contact be awarded before a DNA test is known? The father in question has not had any contact with the child .
Does a positive DNA guarantee PR ?

What I am trying to understand is can someone who is claiming to be a child's father be granted contact without any 'proof' of a biological link and has no familial link (ie not extended family and has never lived with a child as part of their family) .
This person at present is a complete stranger to the child .

Could he apply and be granted contact without applying for PR. ?
As far as I'm aware he isn't particularly desperate for PR as has no desire to upset the mother more than this already is doing and has no concerns about the child's upbringing or welfare . However would like to have some sort of relationship with his child. He has tried all 'non court routes'

The child is part of a family where the mother is married to someone else and has told the child that her husband is the father and has put the husband on the BC. However the child is definitely not the husbands . - he was born as a result of an affair where the mother was going to leave her husband but ended the affair when she became pregnant .Her husband has bought the child up as his own. There is no doubt that the child is not from the mother and husband . (There is a racial element involved that makes this obvious- my friend is mixed race, as is the child but both the mother and her husband are not)

If he didn't apply for PR at the same time would they not be required to ask the court for leave to apply first . ?
The biological father has offered generous Cm which has been refused by the mother. It's all part of the attempts to deny the biological father any input into the child's life.
He has set up a child's savings account and will pay into it every month for the child when he is 18 if she continues to refuse the money. Is this the best way ? I am assuming a court cannot 'force' someone to take money ?

It's all a bit of a mess really.

I would imagine a court would want to establish paternity before ordering contact between a child and a man she has never met. In my case paternity was never disputed (despite father not being named on BC), and grandparents had previously had a small amount of contact so a relationship alreayd existed. In your friends case no relationship exists yet and as the child actually doesn’t know of his existence and believes another man to be his father then it would be entirely unethical to order contact for a man who claims he is the father without any DNA confirmation. I don’t think any judge would ever do that. It would be massively traumatising for the child and should only be done if it is certain he is the father. Otherwise any man with an axe to grind could cause a lot of hurt to children just by saying he was the father.

He has set up a child's savings account and will pay into it every month for the child when he is 18 if she continues to refuse the money. Is this the best way ?

Yes it is. And proof of the account should be brought to court to prove it exists, as should evidence of all attempts to pay directly to the mother and all requests for contact.

1. He doesn't have to seek PR if he doesn't want to.
2. Contact would be unlikely to be ordered until paternity were established, if paternity is denied, in these circumstances.
3. Even if paternity is admitted or proved, PR does not follow even if the birth certificate is rectified. Unless the mother agrees, the Court would have to specifically order PR.
4. Once paternity is proven, the true father can amend the birth registration as of right (but that won't confer PR)
5. He doesn't have to seek leave to apply for a Child Arrangements Order, because he is applying as a father.

The big issue for the court is going to be dealing with the fact that the child has been lied to about his father. But ultimately there is a strong bias in cases like this in favour of the child being given the truth, and having that relationship, so it most certainly isn't a reason not to proceed.

What a mess.

Do you know who is listed as the father on the bc? As the woman was married she could have quite easily put her husband on the bc.

OP says the husband is named as father on BC.

Yes husband is named in the BC. He definitely isn't the father.
There is quite a ' sweep it under the carpet attitude' with this.
The husband is very 'upper class' and has done a 'deal'with his wife that he will bring up the child in the same manner as her other children. (Good Public schools , all the trappings of a very privileged life) if she doesn't have any further contact. She agreed to this. My friend is not poor but not in anything close to the same league financially as this man. The deal is also to deny/ignore any discussion about paternity and contact.

When I gave the advice about getting PR first I think I was confusing that with having paternity proved.
So as I understand it, first step is dna test. This will be ignored or refused. So to get the court to order a dna is this a separate application? Or all done within the application for contact (for which he doesn't need to ask leave of the court to do ?)

As I said before, he should simply apply for contact. If she wants to lie and deny paternity, then DNA can be ordered.

I would urge him to also seek PR.

I will encourage him todo so.