My Grandmother Raised Me, but Now My Parents Have Decided I Must Pay Them Child Support

My grandmother raised me, but now my parents have decided that I should start paying them maintenance.

My mother and father live in the West Midlands, while I live in Cornwall. We havent seen each other for more than twenty years. They work as artists and sing in a choir; their whole lives are spent travelling. When I turned five, I move in with my grandmother. She wants an easier life with a child, so she relocates to her relatives home in Cornwall.

At first, Mum and Dad visit us two or three times a year, but over time the visits become rarer. Eventually I stop thinking about them and our contact breaks off. While Im studying dentistry, I get married in my third year.

Now my husband, Daniel Brown, and I run our own dental practice and earn a good income. A year ago my father and mother turn up. They start calling the clinic because they dont even have my phone number. Their conversations are full of complaints about their lives.

I listen to all their whining and reply that they chose this path when they handed a daughter over to my grandmothers care. Occasionally my parents send my grandmother a few pence, but most of the time she and I live on her pension. She repeats this often, and I understand it because we have to save on everything.

I do well at school so I have enough to eat and a decent wardrobe, and I work night shifts at the hospital as a helper. Now I feel I have my own life, and my parents have theirs, so each of us can go our own way.

When Mum and Dad realise I wont help them financially, they start telling me they will apply for maintenance. Their words finally push me away from them. If I ever doubted my decision and still thought about supporting them financially, now I dont want to. Do you think Im right, or should I still help my parents?