Court declares that man registered as father is not parent of children
Being the parent of a child obviously carries with it legal responsibilities. In particular, the parent can be required to maintain the child.
Normally it is of course perfectly clear who a child’s parents are. But there are occasions when it is not clear. In such cases an application can be made to the court for a declaration as to whether or not someone is (or was) the parent of a child.
Such an application was made in a recent case by a man who was named on the birth certificates of twins as their father, but he sought a declaration that he was not their parent.
The facts of the case were as follows.
The man and the children’s mother met in Cyprus in 2006. In 2007, they underwent fertility treatment at a clinic in Cyprus. Conception was achieved using the sperm of an unknown donor with the eggs of the mother, and the mother fell pregnant.
In April 2008, the parties married. Three months later the children were born. The man was registered on their birth certificates as their father.
The marriage soon broke down. The parties separated in 2009 and divorce proceedings followed in 2011. Within the divorce settlement the man accepted financial responsibility for the children, and was ordered to pay £120 per month maintenance for each of them. (The man now suggests that he agreed to this because he was poorly advised.) The maintenance was subsequently paid through the child support system.
The man had no contact with the children after the parties separated, but did continue to pay maintenance for them. However, he now states that he has retired due to ill-health, and therefore can’t continue to pay. He sought to challenge his maintenance obligations on the basis that he is not the children’s father, but the child support tribunal took the view that he was the father, unless he obtained a declaration of non-parentage from the Family Court. The man therefore applied for the declaration.
The judge hearing the application found that the law should not treat the man as the children’s father, given that he and the mother were not married at the time of the conception, the conception took place otherwise than in a clinic licensed in the UK, and the conception was achieved using sperm which was not that of the man. The fact that the man was erroneously registered as the children’s father on their birth certificates did not itself confer legal parentage on him.
Accordingly, the judge made the declaration that the man sought.
You can read the full report of the case here.
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