A man has been awarded nearly £40,000 after bringing a claim against his former wife for misleading him into believing he was the father of her IVF baby.
The lecturer claimed that the baby had been created without his knowledge using the sperm of the businesswoman’s former boyfriend. He said that until he was told the truth when the boy was five, his ex-wife had carried out “six years of deception”.
The case regarding the pair, who cannot be named for legal reasons, took place at Central London County Court. Judge Deborah Taylor, presiding over the case, heard that the couple had married in 2002 and two years later travelled to an IVC clinic in Spain. However, months later the woman returned with her former boyfriend.
In 2005 the boy was born, but six months later the couple separated. The truth came out in 2005 when the pair argued over visitation rights and the woman told the man that he was not the biological father, a fact later confirmed via DNA tests.
The man claimed that this left him distressed and humiliated, while the woman claimed that he had always known there was a chance he was not the boy’s father. He claimed damages on the basis that he looked after the child whilst the woman was at work and paid over £80,000 in maintenance.
Judge Taylor ruled in favour of the man and awarded him £39,000 in damages, plus interest.