Child Support: Reimbursement if you discover the child is not your own

Child Support: Reimbursement if you discover the Child is not your own.

Can I recover child support I have paid, after finding out the child is not mine?

From time-to-time, cases arise where a person (usually the ‘father’) has been paying child support under an assessment by the Child Support Agency (CSA) and later they find out they are not actually the child’s father.

In these circumstances – Yes, the father (the non-biological father as it turns out) can recover money they have paid from the mother.

How do I recover this money?

The recovery process requires an application to be made to the Court to seek a declaration that the party is not a parent to that child.

A Court can then make an Order pursuant to section 143 of the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989, that a parent repay any previously paid child support.

A successful application will require the applicant to show:

• They have paid child support to a person (and in this example it is the child’s mother).
• They have subsequently become ‘not liable’ to pay child support to that person (the child’s mother).
• It would be just and equitable for an order to be made for reimbursement of monies paid.

Before making an order for reimbursement, the Court will also consider things like:

• Whether the payee or the payer knew or suspected, or should reasonably have known or suspected, that the payer was not the father of the child.
• Whether the payee or the payer engaged in any conduct that resulted in the application for assessment of child support for the child being accepted by the CSA.
• Whether there has been a delay by the payer applying to Court once they knew, or should reasonably have known, that he or she was not a parent of the child.
• The relationship between the payer and the child; and
• The financial circumstances of the payee and the payer.

If the Court makes such an Order, the party who has paid the child support can request that the Child Support Agency recover these monies on their behalf from the parent.

Will the Court make an Order for Repayment?

The Courts will make orders for the repayment of money paid in circumstances where there should never have been a liability to pay.

However, every case is different and has its own set of facts, and there may be circumstances (as unfair as it might seem) when the Court decides not to order the reimbursement of monies. The financial circumstances of the parties will be an important consideration to the Court, particularly if repayment by the mother places a burden on them, which might cause a significant detriment to the standard of living of the child.

Summary

If you find yourself in this situation, it is important to see a lawyer as soon as possible. Ideally, as soon as you discover you are not the child’s father.

The longer you ‘do nothing’ the more difficult it may be for you to successfully recover any money from the child’s mother.