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Claiming Child Maintenance from Father Abroad

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  • Claiming Child Maintenance from Father Abroad

    Hello,

    I'm wondering if there is anyone out there that can give me some advice, please.

    In brief: I'm a British mum (with French nationality by a previous marriage) and a lone parent.

    My daughter, now 15 yrs old, has dual nationality: French & British.

    Her father is French and lives in France. We weren't married but went to court in France to sort out visitation rights & child maintenance before I returned to the UK with my daughter in 1997.

    He paid child maintenance regularly until about 7 years ago, and hasn't been in touch or paid a penny since. ...he's alive and well, married, and working full time as an engineer.

    He stopped paying when he brought a court case against me in France for not sending my daughter to France to see him for the holidays in 1997....she was only 4 at the time and she did not want to travel on her own.

    The French Court decided that I was in the wrong, put out a warrant for my arrest (never enforced, the UK Home Office said I did not have to comply), and said he did not have to make any more child maintenance payments to me.

    As far as Rights of the Child go, he is as much responsible as I am for "the upbringing, development...and a standard of living adequate" for my daughter's development.

    I know that there is a European Maintenance Regulation but I think that the UK may have opted out for the time being.

    I am having difficulty finding out if and how I can proceed with a court claim for maintenance.

    It's been hard enough struggling on my own to make ends meet since my daughter was born nearly 16 years ago, but now I can no longer work because of health problems, and our financial situation is dire.

    My brilliant A* pupil daughter will be going to uni in a couple of years, with all the expense that that will involve and I think it's time that her father starts to pull his weight financially. Can anyone please help?

  • #2
    Re: Claiming Child Maintenance from Father Abroad

    Have you contacted the CSA or your local benefits office?

    I assume you are claiming some sort of allowance due to your health preventing you from work.

    I cannot answer your question regarding maintenance I'm afraid, someone else may be able to.

    As for having other financial difficulties, if you need any help with these then feel free to ask.
    Any opinions I give are my own. Any advice I give is without liability. If you are unsure, please seek qualified legal advice.

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    • #3
      Re: Claiming Child Maintenance from Father Abroad

      Hi and I'm so sorry to hear of you having no help from the father financially, please contact the CSA and get a claim in asap, as soon as they send him a letter, maintenance, if due, will be due from the date he receives it. I have no idea of how the CSA determine this but the most important thing is to contact them and find out.

      Good luck and I hope you get somewhere with them xx

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      • #4
        Re: Claiming Child Maintenance from Father Abroad

        I doubt if there is any formal remedy you can apply for. Have you contacted him personally and asked him he if will contribute?
        I wouldn't worry too much about Uni costs, the grants and bursarys can work out quite generous if your houslehold income is low - your daughter will get there.

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        • #5
          Re: Claiming Child Maintenance from Father Abroad

          Thank you very much for your input and advice. It's so nice just knowing that great people like you care enough to spend your time giving advice and support.

          I have asked him to contribute but he is refusing unless my daughter goes to see him and she doesn't want to......she didn't really bond with him, he was less than regular with his visitation rights when we were in France and he hasn't bothered with her at all for the past 7 years.

          I have applied to CSA but their answer is that France is out of their jurisdiction.

          I have read that there is a European Regulation which determines which court has jurisdiction for an international maintenance dispute, and according to which national law the court is to make its decision. Maintenance decisions made by courts in one member state are to be enforceable in all member states of the EU, without any futher formalities. Decisions in one state cannot be reviewed in another, and enforcement can take place directly against third parties abroad.

          But I'm not sure if this regulation is in force, nor whether the UK has signed up for it.

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          • #6
            Re: Claiming Child Maintenance from Father Abroad

            all maintenace issues are awful, i havent received a penny of the fathers of my children ..however, my oldest one has finished Uni as she received a grant and loan due to low income on my part shes now doing her masters in neuro science... who says single parents are useless?
            i hope you get the way round it eventually
            xx

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