What happens when someone denies they are the parent of a child?
A person named as the parent of a child may deny that they are, in fact, the parent. If this happens, we have to look into the case to find ways to show whether the person is or is not the parent, so that we can set up the correct child maintenance arrangements.
Cases where a person named as the parent of a child denies that they are the parent are known as 'disputed parentage'.
When can a person deny they are the parent of a child?
The person named as the parent of a child may deny they are the parent either:
- before we work out child maintenance
- after we work out child maintenance.
What happens if parentage is disputed before we work out child maintenance?
We always ask the person named as the parent of a child if they accept that they are the parent of a named child before we work out maintenance.
The person named as the parent of a child may deny they are the parent before we work out the maintenance. If this happens, we will look into the reasons in detail and ask the person to provide evidence to support their denial. We will not ask the person named as the parent of the child to pay child maintenance until we have sorted out the dispute.
What happens when someone denies they are the parent of a child?
We will also tell the parent with care that the other person has denied that they are the parent, and ask the parent with care to provide evidence to support their claim.
We will use the evidence provided by both people to reach a decision on whether the person named is the parent of the child. We will then try to sort out the dispute so that we can set up the correct child maintenance payment arrangements.
What happens if parentage is disputed after we work out child maintenance?
If someone denies that they are the parent after we have worked out child maintenance, they must provide evidence that they are not the child's parent.
We will only accept 'conclusive' evidence. This evidence could be DNA test results or a court declaration that the person is not the child's parent. This is called a 'declaration of non-parentage' or in Scotland a 'declorator of non-parentage'.
Once we have made a calculation, the person named as the parent of the child will have to pay child maintenance until they provide proof that they are not the actual parent. If they then deny they are the parent and provide evidence that they are not, we will refund child maintenance payments made for that child from the date we received information from them telling us that they denied they are the parent.
We do not have to pay back any child maintenance they paid for that child before they denied that they are the parent.
More information about what happens when someone denies they are the parent of a child is here.
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