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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Fair for him to oppose paying for dc in this context? (Please be kind)

552 replies

biwncs · 28/12/2022 14:19

before I start I want to say I’ve NC as I am embarrassed by this and I know I do NOT smell of roses here. Please don’t post if it’s just to sling mud at me, i know I haven’t been perfect by a long way.

when I was 37 I panicked about wanting dc and my partner at the time was 40. He had pushed it back a year already but in fairness to him we hadn’t been together long, only two years. He would often make comments about wanting dc and where we would take them, what schools theyd go to etc. I came off the pill and didn’t say and although we also used condoms (we always have, we prefer it), I became pregnant. He was conflicted at the start but after a couple of weeks said it was up to me and he would support me either way. I asked if he wanted a termination a few times and he said no. So we carried on. Half way through the pregnancy I felt I had to tell him I had come off the pill. It was a horrible conversation understandably but we moved past it. A year or so later we broke up, since then my ex has refused to pay a penny and hasn’t spent any time with dc. He has no other kids and as far as I know not with anyone else. He tells me he shouldn’t have to pay as I made him have a dc. I now feel so conflicted about maintenance? I feel he was giving me all the signs he wanted us to have dc and I did openly discuss termination and he said no. But ultimately he’s right I came off the pill and didn’t say. I am so confused/sad as to what to do and what’s right. He doesn’t seem interested in dc either and i feel that’s on me, though I never ever had him down as someone who would abandon his child. I just don’t know what to do and feel he has a point regarding finance.

OP posts:
bellac11 · 28/12/2022 15:09

MelchiorsMistress · 28/12/2022 15:07

When a man lies to a women to make her consent to sex that she might not have otherwise, we call it rape.

No one should be financially penalised because they were coerced into sex.

Women aren’t blamed for staying in abusive situations longer than they should because we acknowledge that the emotional stress doesn’t leave people in the best place to make big decisions. This is no different just because the sexes are reversed.

It is irrelevant that he was offered the chance to terminate, because at that point he was still being lied to so had no opportunity to make a decision based on facts.

Absolutely this.

WomanhoodIsABirthright · 28/12/2022 15:09

Is it even his?

Pumperthepumper · 28/12/2022 15:11

He made a kid. Therefore he should pay for his kid.

OldFan · 28/12/2022 15:13

This is a legal thing @biwncs . As I understand it he is their physical father and he has to pay what the CSA decide, unless maybe you get a new partner who adopts them or something. Legally, it's cut and dried as far as I know.

MelchiorsMistress · 28/12/2022 15:13

Pumperthepumper · 28/12/2022 15:11

He made a kid. Therefore he should pay for his kid.

Do you apply that logic to every woman that chooses abortion?

OldFan · 28/12/2022 15:13

Is it even his?

@WomanhoodIsABirthright !!!?

OldFan · 28/12/2022 15:14

Do you apply that logic to every woman that chooses abortion?

@MelchiorsMistress Eh? Why would they have to pay for a child that isn't on this earth?

LorenzoVonMatterhorn · 28/12/2022 15:15

I dont understand your guilt. You were using the pill and condoms. You went to just using condoms. Something went wrong with the condom. Shit happens. He should be paying for his child to eat and live.

is he guilty for not using a condom properly?

csa. Get the money your child is owed. If you do not want to spend it, out it in an isa for the child.

LorenzoVonMatterhorn · 28/12/2022 15:16

MelchiorsMistress · 28/12/2022 15:13

Do you apply that logic to every woman that chooses abortion?

That makes no sense at all. In your example there is no child to pay for. Maybe stay off the baileys for a couple of days.

Pumperthepumper · 28/12/2022 15:17

MelchiorsMistress · 28/12/2022 15:13

Do you apply that logic to every woman that chooses abortion?

No, because then no kid exists.

anyolddinosaur · 28/12/2022 15:20

You didnt force him to have sex and he hadnt had a vasectomy. Any contraceptive message can fail. He should pay maintenance, understandable if he does the absolute minimum he can legally pay.

It was a disgusting thing to do, he is still the child's father and the child shouldnt suffer.

Goldbar · 28/12/2022 15:22

The money is for the child not you. If you have sex, there is always a risk that a child results. And both parents have to support that child.

That said, you have behaved terribly.

But yes, if your child will suffer materially without the money, you need to claim it. Your first priority is to give your child the best life you can. The rights and wrongs of your behaviour towards the father come second to that.

Ramsbottom · 28/12/2022 15:22

It was never going to go well. Once you do this to someone, it is always going to end the relationship. You probably should have carried it through and not Admitted what you did.

however legally he needs to pay now if you can’t afford to raise the kid alone.

shocking situation and I also feel sorry for him. He was taking as much protection as he thought possible. Pregnancy should never have occurred, he’d no way to know you were conning him.

did you also do something to thr condoms? Put a pin in?

LimeCheesecake · 28/12/2022 15:23

If he had said he definitely did not want to be a father when you were first dating, would you have continued to date him? If he had said he wanted you to have an abortion when either he first found out you were pregnant or again later when you told him the truth about coming off the pill, would you have done it?

Babyroobs · 28/12/2022 15:24

AnneLovesGilbert · 28/12/2022 14:31

As to your main question, of course he’s reasonable to be angry he’s on the hook for money for 17 or however many years. But legally he’s screwed so you win.

This. Awful.

FrippEnos · 28/12/2022 15:24

.I feel for the guy but the OP has legally fucked him over. And yes he should pay

As for
Dacadactyl
While OP hasn't covered herself in glory,
Is the understatement of the century

Cakecakecheese · 28/12/2022 15:25

Condoms aren't 100% reliable are they? Or am I just thinking of that Friends episode? 🤔

Lenald · 28/12/2022 15:25

I’m sorry but no matter how many precautions you take there is always a risk of pregnancy when you’re having sex.

he need to pay, he doesn’t get a choice regardless of how poorly you behaved and how much he feels like he’s a victim in this.

people can have what ever opinion or Karol stance they want on this but the law is the law and that’s that.

Eatentoomanyroses · 28/12/2022 15:25

My dh’s ex got pregnant on purpose and told dh she was on the pill. He pays maintenance even though we have the kid most of the time, pays for extra curricular and all his clothes. Child maintenance will not be interested in his argument.

Lenald · 28/12/2022 15:25

Moral*

Ramsbottom · 28/12/2022 15:26

Cakecakecheese · 28/12/2022 15:25

Condoms aren't 100% reliable are they? Or am I just thinking of that Friends episode? 🤔

No but combined with the pill taken correctly it would be practically impossible to fall pregnant,

MelchiorsMistress · 28/12/2022 15:27

Pumperthepumper · 28/12/2022 15:17

No, because then no kid exists.

No, but the point is that it’s unfair to hold men to significantly higher standards than we do women. And vice versa.

On the whims of the OP, this poor bloke who did nothing wrong and everything right could have to pay half the cost of raising a child he was tricked into having for the next 18 years. Or maybe he won’t. OP gets to dangle control over his finances at her leisure.

GrasstrackGirl · 28/12/2022 15:28

You literally fucked him for life.

If you were that desperate, you should have worked out if you could afford to raise a child by yourself.

Pumperthepumper · 28/12/2022 15:28

MelchiorsMistress · 28/12/2022 15:27

No, but the point is that it’s unfair to hold men to significantly higher standards than we do women. And vice versa.

On the whims of the OP, this poor bloke who did nothing wrong and everything right could have to pay half the cost of raising a child he was tricked into having for the next 18 years. Or maybe he won’t. OP gets to dangle control over his finances at her leisure.

I don’t understand your point about abortion though. Him not wanting a kid and a woman aborting the kid are totally different scenarios. They’re not opposite sides of the same coin.

Lenald · 28/12/2022 15:29

MelchiorsMistress · 28/12/2022 15:27

No, but the point is that it’s unfair to hold men to significantly higher standards than we do women. And vice versa.

On the whims of the OP, this poor bloke who did nothing wrong and everything right could have to pay half the cost of raising a child he was tricked into having for the next 18 years. Or maybe he won’t. OP gets to dangle control over his finances at her leisure.

Moral POV is irrelevant. The law is the law. best he just accepts this is the situation and gets on with his life.

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