Is this an imprisonable offence?

[Everythingtastesbetterwithcheese]

My DH and I have both been married before. I have a DD and our own DD with my husband and he has DS12, DD15 with exW. Recently exW has made it clear she wishes to locate 3 hours away making it impossible to see them every sat as per CAO.
He has taken legal advice in order to get a PSO, however the solicitor has said there is a problem.
DH is not the biological father of eldest DD. he met the mum when DD was 1 and when they got married stupidly agreed to change DD's birth certificate to put himself as the father. He has always paid maintenance for her and will continue to do so.
The solicitor rightly says she cannot act for him as he is misleading the court and he needs to put this right with a declaration of parentage.
However he has committed an offence by signing the BC and this will come to light by doing so.
My worry is, is he likely to be prosecuted for this? He did it because he was young(22) at the time and the mother wanted them to all have the same name.
Google search shows up to 7 years in prison, but is this likely?

That's forgery OP and yes I think he would be prosecuted for it, it's extremely serious. If I've understood it correctly, he falsified an entry on an existing birth certificate, yes?

Family Law person here.

Deliberately giving false details on a birth certificate is a criminal offence. This comes under the Perjury Act 1911 and is punishable by a custodial sentence.

A genuine mistake, then you can seek an amendment to the register, but you'd have to prove that the mistake was genuine, and in this case, he did this knowingly.

Also, his age is irrelevant, and 22 is not seen as a child in the eyes of the law.

For the purpose of clarity, get paid for legal advice, but if you were my client, I'd be telling you the above.

Out of interest- isn’t the ex-wife guilty of the same offence?

so DH and DH-ex were a couple with a 1 year old (not his child) and went to get the birth certificate amended to add DH. They both lied and said DH was the biological father when a DNA test would show he is not. Is that right?

surely the punishment for lying would fall equally on DH and DH-ex? Is DH-ex now raising this problem as part of her argument for why she should be able to move away? If not, why has the issue come up?

Does the daughter know?

Yes DH exW is just as guilty. I think she knows he cannot take her back to court without implicating them both so she is just carrying on. She said "maybe" he can see them in the school holidays.
This has come up now as his solicitor said she cannot mislead the court, as she is an officer of the court and her advice is to "put it right"

Yes the daughter has known all along. All the family know as she was over 1 when they met. It's not as if they could hide it. I can't think of a single good reason to do this. I'm tempted to say it serves him right but I know the children will suffer too, as they have a good relationship with their dad and our DD's

Poor child.

Finding out that information. But she has to know! If anything to stop her having a relationship with someone who could turn out to be a half sibling.

Oh, I missed the update OP while writing that. Sorry.

The solicitor is talking about being professionally embarrassed. If she is asked to lie to the court by her client she will resign and your dh will have to appoint a new one.

To correct a birth certificate out of proceedings the mother and the incorrect father and the actual father have to agree to this. It's quite tricky. Adding a father to a bc is much more straightforward.

Within public law proceedings nc can be corrected when there is a dna test as the judge will order the declaration of parentage and this can be sent to the register office and they will produce a new bc.

What the issue now is that even though the bc is wrong, your dh holds pr for this child and has to be party to proceedings.

I work in the family court I've come across lots of incorrect bc but never anyone bring prosecuted for it.

Also the kids are quite old for a CAO being upheld and the cafcass officer will give lot of weight to what they themselves want.

Taking this back to court is quite heavy handed imo. You may not get the outcome you want anyway though I appreciate the anguish your dh must be feeling.

And there are no extenuating circumstances? Eg he didn't meet his ex a couple of years earlier on a night out, and he had every reason to believe DD actually was his when they met again a couple of years later? And since found out this was not the case?

Also can't this be sorted in mediation? Can't they just come every other weekend now?

Here is the gov infor op hope this is helpful

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/652392/HowwtoApplyyforaaCorrectiontooRemoveFatherrsDetailssV5.0.pdf

I’ve never been involved in a custody case so this may be nonsense, but can he get a new solicitor and just go for the PSO in respect of the younger child that is his, and leave the daughter out of the case? Then the issue just doesn’t need to come up. Given his daughter knows, he could explain to her why?

He tried mediation when he applied for cao initially 4 years ago, however she refused to engage and never even turned up. Thank you for your replies. Very helpful I will look that up

If they were married doesn’t it come under the child of the family guidelines anyway?

Hth.

I would have a long think about this op and do sone reading. Prohibited steps orders are not often granted. The eldest dd may be 16 before this is resolved in the court. Even if she turned 15 yesterday you might wait 3 months for a hearing, another 3 months for a section 7 report, a handful of case management hearings and so on.
The welfare checklist applies just the same as with a child arrangement order and the court will take a holistic view. If the exw has a solid reason to relocate and this is what the children want there's not much of a case.

If it was me I would be asking the exw very directly what she is proposing for contact between dad and his dc after she's moved and have a long think about it when you know.

As an aside though - a man who willingly pays maintenance for and actively maintains a relationship for this long with essentially a step child - sounds like a good egg. Hope you can work things out.

Prohibited steps orders are not often granted

Not true. In Q3 of 2023 there were 3316 applications for PSOs and 3095 orders were granted.

What are the daughters views on moving? I assume the older one will be able to complete GCSEs locally? Why is the mum moving?

I would suggest your dh reconsider the PSO, he can't force the girls to see him, even if a PSO is issued and if they are close to their mum they will not appreciate this level of conflict (& costs).

In 2 years time the older daughter could be at University and driving so take a longer view.

I did wonder about some stats. I'd be really intrigued by the context of the orders granted - is there by info on broad facts and reasons eg; cultural/religious reasons or whether they concerned leaving the uk?

Happy to be educated btw 😀

'children of the family' hold great weight in court... Ime the dc will be treated as dh's.. Especially if the dc is old enough to state they want to see him...

No, I'm afraid the statistics available don't give any more detail than that - just the raw numbers of applications and orders made.

@prh47bridge ah ok thanks anyway.