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Husband has had a unknown child pop up we didn't know about what does this mean if the CSA comes after him?

354 replies

Cheekychica10 · 01/02/2017 21:30

Ok I have two children with my husband a preschooler and a baby,
We've both been contacted recently by a girl he had a one night stand with many many years ago and it turns out he has another child ,
We live a good eight hours away so contact is not going to be easy , aswell as many emotions this has brought up for us both . This may sound selfish however I am very concerned about our finances , this may be cynical of me but I believe this is going to boil down to money- having looked on the CSA website and working out what we would have to pay - it would really have a massive effect on us- the amount she would receive for her child is far greater than what free cash we have each month for our own children, there website doesn't take into account any debt / mortgage / food / bills we have to pay for ourselves - and this is feeling incredibly unfair to me,

I'm also worried about my husband he takes family very seriously and adores his children with me and he is by far the best father i could wish for- the most we can offer in terms of contact is a few hours in a contact centre possibly three or four times a year - I would love to welcome
This child into our family and our home I am more than happy to have this child every other school holiday / Christmas etc - but I cannot imagine that day will be for many years as my husband and the mother do not even know each other in reality , aecondly this child has a family unit a mum a sister and her mums boyfriend who she calls dad , so is a few hours a few times a year slowly building up contact worth disrupting everything ?

OP posts:
LIZS · 02/02/2017 10:36

I'm not sure any potential scenario reflects well on ops h, yet it is the mother taking the flack. He either never looked back after ons and dismissed any possible consequence or he knew and ignored his child. It may be out of frustration that she is chasing him now. How convenient that he isn't around to face up to this. Op, had you known of this child earlier in your relationship would you have continued to marry, have dc etc. Are you sure this was a one off?

AnchorDownDeepBreath · 02/02/2017 10:37

We can step up we can make a massive difference to this child's life financially and physically but the amount given based solely on income
With no account for any outgoings is grossly unfair.

How would that work? That means any man could just increase his outgoings to reduce what he has to pay to his children. Some would. That's why it's got no relevance - it's a minimum of 12%; he has to pay that. For him, he's contributing to his other child just as he gives the other 88% to his children with you, but for you it's a rough deal. Perhaps you need to look at ways he can earn more so you can still afford the home you want.

I'd keep your mind open as to what has happened and why she went about this the way she did. She'll have her reasons and it's probably worth knowing them even if you don't agree with them.

I hope you can go on to have a good relationship with the child. You're right that the extra family is just as important as the money - but nothing can be substituted for the money, which at 8, the child likely needs.

2014newme · 02/02/2017 10:37

Hobbitmum how do you know she didn't tell him years ago? Perhaps she did. Now she has told his family he says he didn't know before. Seems unlikely she would keep quiet fir 8 years but then track down his family to announce it. 🙄
The op hasn't asked the ex when she told him. Perhaps the truth is too much to handle at this raw stage.

sleepingdragon · 02/02/2017 10:38

Hi OP, this must be such a shock for you I can only imagine how you are feeling at the moment. I am a single parent and am a part of various single parent networks so I thought i would give my perspective and opinions- sorry its so long!

The first step is definitely the DNA test. Assuming that comes back positive, and there are no other surprises, the first and most important thing to do is to start setting out a good relationship with the mother. If, as you are saying, you do want your husbands daughter to be a part of your family, discussions about contact are as important as the discussions about finances (and from the child's perspective are more important as this is a massive change in her life) and so need to be raised straight away.

Thinking about finances first though, becasue that is relatively straightforward. Most people come to a financial agreement between themselves. You should try to do this if possible, and make sure you make the payments reguarly, as if you end up with an agreement through the CMS they take a significant chunk of the money to cover their admin fees, which benefits neither you or your stepdaughter. I realise this will be harder becasue you dont have any relationship with the mother yet, and her first actions have been quite aggressive, which is why I say the first thing to do is to establish a positive relationship with her. When people make their financial agreement between themselves this can be for any amount- more or less than the figures on the website you saw. With the distance between where you live you should agree how transport costs are paid to facilitate contact as a part of the financial settlement. Just a suggestion- the mother may be contacting you now because they have some sort of financial difficulty- a big reason why people don't ask a father for maintanance is because they would rather do without the money than deal with contact/have someone else with parental responsibility involved. You might want to offer her some money now to help them out on condition that this is seperate from any agreement for child mainatance going forward (i.e. you wont be paying that much in future). This might take the pressure off the mother wanting or needing an agreement for child maintanance as soon as possible, and would help you form a positive relationship.

Now in terms of contact, this can take any form that works for all of you, most importantly your new step daughter. Your suggestion of a contact centre threw me- you would have to pay to use a contact centre if its through choice, they are usually used to keep the child safe because the parent they are meeting poses a risk. If you only want an occasional relationship meeting close to where your step daughter lives you can go to soft play, cafes, cinema, shopping, whatever you find as your shared interests. This is fine, but in my opinion would be quite a 'slack dad' approach - (after a relationship has built up) why shouldn't she be welcome in your home as part of your family? Unless there are factors you havent mentioned in your posts there is no reason why you wouldnt be able to have your stepdaughter to stay reguarly as part of your family once the relationship is there- the amount of involvement depends on how the relationship develops not on what has happened in the past. This includes being involved in important decisions in her life, recieving school reports etc if thats how the relationship develops.

If as you say you do want your step daughter to be part of your family, it would be better to make this clear now, as her mother and partner also need to get their heads round the changes this will mean in their life. Parents work out contact in all sorts of different ways, usually the child travels to spend time at the home of the other parent if the visit is for more than a few hours. Taking into account the distance involved you are mainly going to be thinking about how she can stay with you during the holidays, and possibly weekends during term time if you all feel the travelling is not too much/ to attend your family special occasions.

In terms of starting to establish a relationship you need to think about how your step daughter will be feeling at the moment. Depending on what she has been told, she is likely to feel rejected already as she has never met or heard from her father- she will not understand the adult world. So you need to ensure nothing happens that will cause her to feel rejected again, particuarly while you are getting to know each other. Her mum knows her best, so listen to her opinions on how to approach this. In general, you could read on the internet about introductions for children being adopted for ideas on how to establish a relationship. Something along the lines of sending a photo, letter or video clip introducing yourself and saying how excited you are to meet her. Then you and your husband travelling up to meet her with her mum and step dad for a short visit, maybe repeat this and then get them all to travel down to meet your children and see your house. Then maybe your husband going up to take her out for a few hours on his own or with you, working up to a time when your stepdaughter feels comfortable coming to stay overnight at your house. Presumably your husband's family will be keen to meet her too, so you will need to plan these introductions too.

I have written loads, and this is a lot to take on board at this time I realise. However the approach you take now will set the tone for the rest of your relationship with your step daughter, not least in the way that she feels about your husband and what she percieves to be his feelings towards her. Good luck, I hope it all works out well for all of you.

KatyBerry · 02/02/2017 10:56

The only situation in which I've ever seen this arise was the most logical - the woman brought up her child as someone else's for 15 years so as not to destroy her relationship with that man. When it broke down, she finally searched out my friend and gave him the news that he had a 15 year old. He had been deprived of 15 yrs of relationship as had the child, so that she didn't have to admit infidelity in the first place. Atrocious, but the child and father are doing their best to mend it but no doubt, it's an expensive surprise for someone to receive, and more so for their wife.

Aderyn2016 · 02/02/2017 10:57

Semi being a parent is about more than sperm donation. Some other man has had the benefit of being dad to this child for 8 years, so I reckon between him and the mother they ought to continue providing for 'their' child.
Like I said, and you ignored, if the mother was in genuine dire need then yes the biological father should help out. But he isn't this child's dad - that was stolen from him and in his shoes I wouldn't want to be good enough to pay cs but not good enough to have been involved in actual parenting.

Aderyn2016 · 02/02/2017 11:02

Tbf how many people do look back after a ons? I think the mother deserves the flack here, if the situation is as the OP describes it. The mother knowingly deprived him of information that was crucial to his own life. People are making assumptions about him and saying he doesn't come out of it looking good but equally it is possible the mother lied about contraception. We don't know.

JanuaryMoods · 02/02/2017 11:04

If she'd already told him I would have thought she'd have mentioned it, frankly. Much more likely the OP's version is correct.

Underthemoonlight · 02/02/2017 11:06

Aderyn he shouldn't pay for his child he knows about?? There's nothing to suggest that his lady didn't get in touch prior only want OPs dh said but he's away on work yes freely doesn't question this?

Littleballerina · 02/02/2017 11:11

She hasn't asked you for anything yet. It's a shock but just wait and see what happens. She could be nice! Maybe they don't want money, maybe her daughter just wants to know her father.

Aderyn2016 · 02/02/2017 11:16

I don't think he should have to pay more than he can afford or compromise his other children's home etc, if this really is news to him.
The OP hasn't said anything about the child being in need. It is too early for her to say right now. It is possible that her mum has just decided that some extra money would be nice and she can tap him for it. She might not have thought through yet that this means she might have to agree to access and her child forming a relationship with the OPs family. All we know about her is that she has expoded a bomb into this familiy's life and the OP knew nothing until yesterday. Obviously if it turns out the dh has known all along and this was her last resort, it changes things massively.
But, if I was OP and believed my dh, I wouldn't be caring much about why she had hidden the truth, I'd be furious that she had such arrogance to make that choice for my h and his child.

Bluntness100 · 02/02/2017 11:16

The fact he's sure it's his kid also says a lot, most men if they didn't know and it was some random one night stand nine years ago where they only knew each others names wouldn't have that immediate reaction. They'd be beyond shocked, trying to remember who she was and demanding a paternity test, why he wasn't told before and basically freaking out
So that doesn't add up either. The "yes I'm fairly sure she's mine" is a weird reaction.

In addition the fact this woman has a boyfriend who the child calls dad and the family unit has not broken down, again indicates this is not a case of she is suddenly free to tell. Clearly there is no secrets there.

So taking the fact this woman has now told the husbands whole family and contacted his wife apparently before contacting her husband, was spiteful about it, the fact the husband is sure it's his and there is no breakdown in her family unit, indicates this is a woman who is trying very very hard to ensure the child's father steps up. The odds of this being her first communication on the subject is almost non existant unless she is batshit crazy. She's lit the blue touch paper for a reason. Usually people fire some warning shots before they take drastic action.

thethoughtfox · 02/02/2017 11:17

I feel financially it's very very unfair and injust - the amount of money she would be entitled to- in all for settling an amount that's reasonable I have no qualms over that - but not an amount that means we lose our home and uproot my children - or I have to put my baby in a nursery full time to go back to work full time to make the money up - if I raise my two children on less money each month than what she's entitled to it's unfair.

Surely you are thinking about this backwards. He should have been paying for this all along. You have had the benefit of extra money for all these years. This might be a more helpful and healing way to look at things.

2014newme · 02/02/2017 11:19

Why would you lose your home ffs.

needsahalo · 02/02/2017 11:19

The mother of the first child is accountable for her choices and to me, that means she should sort out her own finances and not rely on him, having cheated him out of his child

And this is the reason why so few children are in receipt of child maintenance. The misogyny in all of this is what is so depressing. Whichever way it's looked at, it's mum's fault and mum should shoulder the burden.

Assuming we go down this path, how do you think it would feel to be a child who is first cheated out of a father (not my words) and then have that same father turn his back and say you're not worth the money, your mother has to manage? What do you think might be the long term emotional impact of such an approach? One of the first rules of separated parenting is children only one sane parent - enough to stop the tit for tat shite that is so damaging.

Aderyn2016 · 02/02/2017 11:20

True fox, but if they'd known they might have made different choices about the OPs work situation for example. They have been deprived of info that was crucial to their decision making, which is hard to forgive.

Bluntness100 · 02/02/2017 11:21

Surely you are thinking about this backwards. He should have been paying for this all along. You have had the benefit of extra money for all these years. This might be a more helpful and healing way to look at things.

HelenDenver · 02/02/2017 11:22

No money has even been mentioned yet!

Aderyn2016 · 02/02/2017 11:24

It isn't misogynistic to blame the person whose fault it actually is. In this case it happens to be the mother. If she had told him from the start I would 100% agree that he should have been paying his fair share.
It"s not that I really think he should pay nothing now, but I do think it is harsh to make his wife and kids accountable for something that was deliberately kept from them.

needsahalo · 02/02/2017 11:28

but I do think it is harsh to make his wife and kids accountable for something that was deliberately kept from them

They are not accountable. The father is.

And we do not know the mother has deliberately kept dad in the dark. So much is suggesting otherwise.

needsahalo · 02/02/2017 11:32

And yes, matters of the non payment of child maintenance forcing women to be sole providers for their children which is, largely, state sponsored and backed up by the rest of society is misogny at its finest. Single fathers are heros. Single mothers are scum.

Aderyn2016 · 02/02/2017 11:34

They are accountable if they end up with less money as a result. Or if the OP has to return to work before she is ready.
I don't think at this stage there is any more evidence to say he knew than to say he didn't. I hope the OP is okay because regardless of her dh, this has got to be devastating for her. I admire her willingness to be inclusive - not everyone would be. I don't blame her for stressing about financial impact on her own dc.

needsahalo · 02/02/2017 11:36

No. The father is accountable. No maintenance is paid by the OP. And sorry, but thousands of women out there have to go back to work before they are ready. That's life.

Aderyn2016 · 02/02/2017 11:37

Halo, broadly speaking you are right, but the mother here hasn"t been forced into sole responsibility. She chose it, at great cost to het own child and his/her father.
If what OP says is true, then her h is the one who has been treated badly.

Bambambini · 02/02/2017 11:37

OP

This is quite identifying - this woman could be a poster on mn - it's also great Daily Mail fodder. Be careful what you say.

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