Blog
Civil Fraud Quarterly Round-Up: Q4 2025
Mary Young
21 January 2013
Child maintenance – what happens if the presumed parent is not the parent after all?
It was reported in the press that Richard Rodwell, who raised two children during his marriage to his ex wife, recently discovered that they were in fact the product of extra marital affairs. Following Mr and Mrs Rodwell’s divorce, he paid child maintenance for over four years until he decided to investigate rumours that the children were not his. Following DNA tests confirming that he was not the father of either of the children, Mr Rodwell made an application to the Court within civil proceedings. The Judge awarded him £25,000 in damages, treating the award as akin to a bereavement award in a fatal accident claim.
15 October 2012
Are both dual role super mothers and committed fathers short changed by our current social policies and divorce laws?
Over the last 20 years, we have seen a greater tendency for women to enter into the higher occupational sphere and according to recent reports, many of these women feel that our current divorce laws, whilst evolving, do not reflect the fact that they are both homemaker and breadwinner while their spouses do not have to worry about household management as well as their careers.
9 October 2012
The Grandparent Boom
Did National Grandparents’ Day pass you by last Sunday? Perhaps the greetings card companies haven’t yet cottoned on. Or perhaps they did and realised it wasn’t such a money spinner; perhaps it is a sign of something more, a sign that grandparents are simply not as publicly appreciated as mothers/fathers. If we believe the stereotype, then grandparents provide their families with a good dose of sound advice, regular presents, baked goods and a steady supply of Werther’s Originals. However, as more parents go out to work, grandparents are increasingly being relied upon for something more - free childcare.
5 October 2012
Child Maintenance: Out with the old, in with the...?
The Government plans to introduce a new system for dealing with child maintenance in England and Wales, by gradually winding down the much criticised Child Support Agency and replacing it, from December, with the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). Under the new regime, parents will be encouraged to agree proposals for maintenance themselves, and guidance will be provided by the CMS in how to achieve this. The proposals can perhaps be viewed with scepticism as, arguably, parents who are able to agree levels of child maintenance will not necessarily need to use the CMS.
4 October 2012
Discrimination gone mad? A surrogate mother's plea
Whilst maternity pay and protection is not an issue for high profile women using surrogates to become mothers, such as Sarah Jessica Parker, it is a very real problem and issue for most average working women who are not Hollywood superstars. It was widely reported in the press last week that a mother who had a child using a surrogate is taking the Government to the High Court to win the right to receive maternity pay. She is claiming that her human rights are being breached by being denied the opportunity to take paid maternity leave to look after and bond with her son.