Hi all,
I could really do with some help here.
My ex-partner and I had a child together back in 2004, so she's six now. I am on the birth certificate.
In 2007, after we'd split ( in 2006), I received a letter from her, which was a DNA test result - it showed that Her, the Child and another guy had done a DNA Mouth Swap test which proved that this other guy was the father.
Long story short, it was a horrible situation and I cut off from the Child (who was 3 at this stage) as I felt it best for her to know her biological father as her dad - it had nothing to do with me.
I have not seen her since.
So yesterday, I received a letter from the CSA instructing me to make payments of £17 per week child maintenance for the Child. When ringing them up to query it, it turns out that I also owe £3,200 "back payments" back to February 2007 and because I'm on the birth certificate as the father, I'm still liable!
How can this be right? How do I remove myself from the birth certificate, and how can I get the mother to stop harrassing me by naming me as the father on any benefit claims she makes???
The biological father works, but surely as I'm being asked for payment he isn't even paying even though he now has access to the Child??
I am self-employed with five step children, and another daughter of my own - I can't afford to pay for someone else's child (and fail to see why I should!).
People ask me "why did you sign the birth certificate" .. I didn't know that the Child wasn't mine, surely it's the duty of a dad to sign it! But now, after the fact, it turns out she isn't my Child but because of my signature I'm legally bound to pay. Horrible.
Can anyone give me any advice?