Judge orders woman to reimburse maintenance money to ex-husband

A woman was yesterday ordered to give back to her estranged husband the child maintenance money she had received after it resulted that he was not the biological father.

The man filed his action for reimbursement of maintenance against his estranged wife before Mr Justice Mark Chetcuti sitting in the First Hall of the Civil Court.

The two got married in 1995 and a girl was born in 1997, he said. They separated by court judgment in 2004 and he was ordered to pay maintenance of €174.70 a month in relation to the daughter. However, the man eventually found out he was not the child’s biological father and proved it before the Family Court in an action for denial of paternity.

Mr Justice Chetcuti noted that the man was asking for the reimbursement of the maintenance he had paid in respect of the child up to the date it was established that the girl was not his biological daughter, claiming the sum of €18,114.

It was irrelevant that the wife was not certain whether the child was her ex-husband’s daughter, what mattered was that he had paid maintenance for a child he was not obliged to maintain at law, the court ruled.

The court, therefore, ordered the woman to pay her estranged husband €18,114.66.