There are many cases in which a parent makes regular child support payments, only to find one day that they are not even the biological parent of the child. Paternity fraud occurs when a parent deceives a person to claim child support benefits from them.
A person may deceive someone by claiming that they are the biological parent of the child, therefore making them liable to pay child support. Those who have been deceived in this manner, or those who have been subjected to paternity fraud may have some rights to protect themselves against fraud.
Before we examine this topic in detail, let’s first explore what child support and child maintenance means in brief.
What Is Child Support and Child Maintenance?
A parent makes child support payments to the primary carer of a child. These are financial support payments that help the primary carer of the child to look after the child and raise him or her.
These payments are important because it ensures financial stability for the child/children following the breakdown of their parents’ relationship. Both parents have a duty to support their child/children even if they are divorced or separated.click here for more About instagram
Child support can cover many expenses including food, housing, clothing and educational or health-related expenses of the child. Once two parties have divorced, they can reach mutual agreements about child support payments.
Generally, many factors are taken into consideration to determine the amount of payment that a parent needs to make. This can include factors like number of children involved, their ages, the earning capacity of the parent, their income level etc. Visit here for more description about Deodorant
On the other hand, child maintenance payments are meant for financially supporting children who are over 18 years of age. Generally, child support stops when a child turns 18. But in some circumstances, the adult child will still require financial support from his parent/s.
This could mostly be because he or she is still enrolled in secondary school. Moreover, it is possible that need financial support because they are unable to find any part-time or casual employment to help them with their day-to-day needs. In such scenarios, child maintenance or adult child maintenance becomes relevant.
Paternity Fraud
Let’s discuss a case study to best understand what paternity fraud means in family law cases. In the case of Rodwell v Rodwell (2011), Mr Rodwell’s marriage ended in 2004.
The two parties involved in this family law matter had one daughter. Mr Rodwell made regular child support payments after the divorce was finalised. These support payments helped the primary carer of the daughter to look after her day-to-day needs.Click here for more information about Mercari
However sometime later, Mr Rodwell decided to take a DNA test. The DNA test proved that Mr Rodwell was not the biological parent of the child. As a result of this, he sued his former spouse for paternity fraud.
What Can I Do if I Was Subjected to Paternity Fraud?
A person can launch civil proceedings and claim damages. But because the payments benefited a child after all, the victim may not always be able to recover the money that he or she lost. Family law gives paramount consideration to the best interests of the children.
However, they can still make claim for general damages and state that they suffered not only economic losses, but also psychological loss.
Another method is by making an application to the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. However, this depends on certain time limits and eligibility criteria. It is best to consult a family lawyer to understand whether or not you can make such an application. The applicant can state that they are not eligible to pay for child support costs as declared by child support assessment.
If the application is successful, they may even be able to get a refund of all payments made to date. However, each case is different and there isn’t a specific outcome that can be guaranteed.
If you worry that you are being subjected to such types of fraud, it is important to speak with lawyers as soon as possible. Family lawyers and civil law solicitors can help you tackle such cases. It is also important to know about paternity tests in family law.
Author info:
John Bui is the Principal Solicitor of JB Solicitors. The firm primarily deals with matters falling under family law, criminal law, property law, and commercial law. John is a nationally accredited family law mediator and arbitrator.
