A man in China has refused to pay child support to his former lover for their daughter, arguing in court that as the woman knew he was married but kept the child — she should pay for it.
On Monday, a local court in eastern China’s Jiangsu province publicised its ruling on the dispute about who should bear the cost of raising a child born out of wedlock on their WeChat account.
The man in the case, surnamed Zhang, met the woman, surnamed Yan, in 2017 while married with three children and began an affair, according to court documents.
Yan became pregnant and the two made an agreement that Zhang would pay for her nutritional expenses during the pregnancy and for financial support after the baby was born.
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Soon after Yan gave birth to a daughter, the two ended the relationship. However, Yan was left to raise the child without any financial support from Zhang after he refused to honour their earlier agreement.
Yan filed a legal claim for child support after repeated attempts to get Zhang to contribute to the cost of raising their daughter failed.
“Yan knew I was married yet decided to live with me,” Zhang said in his defence to the court. “She could have opted to terminate the pregnancy, but she insisted on having the child, thus she should bear the burden.”
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Zhang also claimed that the payments he initially agreed to were excessive and that he could only afford a payment based on the minimum legal rate for child support in China.
Even though extramarital relationships are not legally protected in China, the court said that children born out of wedlock have the same rights as children born to married couples.
The court ruled that based on the previous agreement between the pair, Zhang should make support payments according to their daughter’s actual needs and the local living standard until she could live independently.
Public opinion has been divided on the court’s decision, but many supported the ruling as what is best for the child.
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One person commented online: “Regardless of the relationship between the parents, raising children is a legal obligation of both biological parents.”
However, some morally outraged people argued that an affair is “disrespectful to marriage” and said the father should not have to pay for his child, while the mother and daughter should be punished under the law by receiving nothing.
“Having the same rights for illegitimate and legitimate children shows huge contempt for the marriage system,” one person said.
