Where do I stand with CSA if ex’s new husband is adopting my daughter?

March 24, 2017

I live in the U.K and married my wife 16 years ago. She is Australian. We have a child but split up due to money issues within a year. When my daughter was 2, she moved back to Brisbane Australia with her, without giving me any notice.

I have had no actual contact with my daughter who is now 13 years old.

I was requested to pay child maintenance through a court payment order through U.K. CSA to Auz CSA which I have done without problem although I have always felt that as I have no possibility of contact with my daughter, I should not be held responsible for maintenance. Her mother chose to sever all ties with me and move to the other side of the planet. It was against my wishes.

My wife remarried 2 years ago and I have found out that last September 2016, her new husband applied to adopt my daughter.

Everything I have read suggests that I now have no legal rights to my daughter and also that I am not required to pay maintenance.

CSA still asks me for maintenance payments but do I need to pay if she has been adopted? I was not even consulted about the adoption so I guess it was deemed that I was not needed to consent to that either.

Fathers rights really are very thin and I lost all possibility of seeing my daughter, yet still held accountable for sending huge amounts of my pay in their direction.

If I now don’t need to pay maintenance, how do I go about finding out?

Comments

  • Mother of child abandoned by father says:

    Firstly you need to find out if she has been successful adopted, if she has you need to obtain legal evidence to them pass onto the CSA.
    However if she has not been adopted you can reject the application for her adoption if you are making regular maintenance payments.
    If she is adopted though and you do stop making maintenance payments, I would recommend that you set up a savings account for your daughter that you can give to her on her 18th Birthday proving to her that you never stopped paying for her and never stopped wanting her!

  • Maisie says:

    He may just be applying for equal parental rights so you will still have to pay… If you give up your parental rights, you will not.
    If you want custody of your daughter you can go to court and point out that your ex-wife kidnapped her. A British child cannot be taken out of the country without permission from EVERYONE with parental rights without a court order, not even on holiday. https://www.gov.uk/permission-take-child-abroad

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