Ask Me Help Desk - Can father deny paternity but demand access

Is it possible for a man to legally deny parentage of a child to CSA but at the same time demand access visits through family court? Can we accept his denial of fatherhood and use this as a reason to stop access visits? This man is violent and a drug user who we don't want to have access.

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Originally Posted by kirstysdaycare

Is it possible for a man to legally deny parentage of a child to CSA but at the same time demand access visits through family court? Can we accept his denial of fatherhood and use this as a reason to stop access visits? This man is violent and a drug user who we don't want to have access.

He needs to go to Court if he wants visitation - that involves DNA testing. I presume he's done that - ? What was the test result?

If he's a violent drug user PROVE that he's a danger to the child and ask that he not have visitation.

Was he a violent drug user when you were in a relationship with him and conceived the child?

Thanks for your reply!
This is about my daughter and grandson aged 10mths. The man is definitely the father. The baby has his surname. My daughter was in a defacto relationship with him from early pregnancy until thebaby was 3 months old. There has been no DNA test done or requestred.
When the relationship broke down I learned that there had been verbal and emotional abuse during pregnancy as well as breaking things and hurting animals. This escalated to physical assaults like punching her in the head when she was holding the baby in bed after the babies arrival. The man terminated the relationship when baby was 3 months old.
My daughter wanted the baby to know his father as long as it was safe. She agreed to regular visits of 3-6 hours about twice a week. This ceased when he argued with my daughter, started pushing her around and tried to push the baby in a pram onto a busy shopping centre driveway. My daughter no longer felt this was a safe person to leave her baby with. When baby was 7mths the father sought mediation for access which happened about 6 weeks ago. Against her better judjement my daughter agreed to twice weekly access in 2 public locations (she wanted supervised access but was told this was all she could get). Access started about 5 weeks ago. There have been constant issues around inadequate care (returning heavily soiled, inadequately dressed for weather), verbal abuse and dangerous behaviour (skidding car as he drives past to leave). Also never gave my daughter his phone number, or paid to register agreements etc. This access ceased 2 weeks ago when he physically assaulted my daughter in the carpark of McDonalds at hand over, this was so serious a member of the public rang 000. During the incident my grandsons head was hit on a car as he used him to taunt my daughter.This incident is under police investigation and assault charges will be laid.
Because of all the other trauma my daughter only applied for child support 3 months ago. She has checked a few times and was told that CSA was still investigating and it was complicated but ongoing. Yesterday she received a letter saying they are unable to grant child support as they cannot verify that her ex is the father. The ex has the babies birth certificate with his name as father and the baby has his surname. We could supply the required information but if we can use this denial of fatherhood to keep the baby safe we would rather do this and have no financial contribution.
What should we do?

ANY question on law needs to include your general locale as laws vary by area.

The birth certificate info is immaterial. Paternity nowadays is proven by DNA testing. If he denies paternity, then the your daughter may have to go to court to compel paternity testing. I'm not sure what CSA is or how it operates in your area. But in most places, child support is ordered by a court. A court has the power to compel DNA.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

ANY question on law needs to include your general locale as laws vary by area.

The birth certificate info is immaterial. Paternity nowadays is proven by DNA testing. If he denies paternity, then the your daughter may have to go to court to compel paternity testing. I'm not sure what CSA is or how it operates in your area. But in most places, child support is ordered by a court. A court has the power to compel DNA.

We are in Queensland, Australia. CSA is Child Support Agency, a federal department that assesses and can facilitate collection of child support

OK, Then you need to pursue this with CSA. If they cannot compel a paternity test, then you will probably need to go to court to do so.

Scott - a question for the US, just curioisity - isn't it true that even if not proven as a biological father of a child, a man can be held responsible as the putative father of a child - such as if he lived with the mother at the time of conception, signed the birth certificate or had established a pattern of behaving as the father and providing support? This was the case years ago in Minnesota when I worked in adoption.

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Originally Posted by dontknownuthin

Scott - a question for the US, just curioisity - isn't it true that even if not proven as a biological father of a child, a man can be held responsible as the putative father of a child - such as if he lived with the mother at the time of conception, signed the birth certificate or had established a pattern of behaving as the father and providing support? This was the case years ago in Minnesota when I worked in adoption.

Yes that is correct. In many areas, a person can be responsible for a child even if not the bio father. But it depends on the circumstances. However, you are using putattive father incorrectly. A putative father is presumed to be the father but without legal confirmation. Once a father is held legally responsible he is the legal father.