Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This case is definitely a miscarriage of justice and I hope will get overturned on appeal. I understand the cases where the social father turns out to not be the biological father, but I can understand those a bit better in the sense that society has an interest in children being supported by their parents and if a child is born during a marriage, there is a presumption that the married couple are the legal parents, even if it turns out the wife was cheating.
But in this case, even the mother agrees she committed fraud in naming this man, and there is evidence to document that he never received the appropriate legal notice that would have given him a timely opportunity to prove his case.
I can only hope justice will prevail in the end. If not, then this is absolutely a valid situation where someone should start a GoFundMe for the man, and people can help him get out of the burden of a judgement that should never have been entered against him. It wouldn't be justice but at least it would be some practical help.
I do not feel suprised by this situation. In many states when a woman names a man as a father especially if she is on welfare the state goes after that man for the money. They do not really care who the father is they just want someone else to pay for the child instead of them. And it is worse if a man had a relationship and later finds out the child was not his after all they will still consider him the father and decide it is in the best interest of the child that he pay child support.
It is only since 2006 that Florida where I live even allowed a man to use a paternity test to stop paying child support.
I saw a case like this on one of those Daytime Court shows.
In a moment of anger, the man's wife had insinuated the 5 year old child that he had raised so far and loved was not his. They divorced, and she took him to court for child support. It was proven that the child indeed was not his biological child.
The judged ruled the father needed to pay the support. Although it seems unfair, and the wife had indeed cheated, lied and hurt everyone in the small family, he was still for all intents and purposes the only father the child had known. Surely the child does not deserve to be punished. The child did nothing to fool anyone.
The judged had asked the man if he loved the child, and his answer was of course I do. I dont know if I would have had I known it was not mine, but believing it was mine, I love it as my own.
The judge had asked does the child love you, and his answer was yes it does.
Since the child was not a baby, it was then brought into the courtroom by the bailiff, and upon seeing its 'father', let go of the bailiffs hand and ran right up to him and grabbed his leg smiling. It did not run to its mother, but its 'father'.
The judge pointed down to the child, smiled and said, although I do not condone this mothers behavior, how could anyone seeing this say this not your child?
I think in the case I saw the judge made the perfect ruling. The 'father' now has court ordered visitation as well as child support.
DNA tests are cheap now. $30 at the hospital where I work to prove paternity (at least when the child is born there). There is no reason for any man to blindly accept he is someone's father, if the idea that he might not be is of concern to either him or his family.
Why is it considered punishment to not force someone to care for a child that isn't theirs? The biological father should pay the support. There is nothing to be gained by making a most likely angry and bitter man be a part of a child's life when he need not be.
This is a case of the law not being updated and changed to match modern findings. In the old days, it was hard to prove who was the parents but now you have DNA which you can find many identifying markers that indicate if the child is the child of the alleged parent in question.
For this specific case, it is a bit different. The man who isn't the genetic father acted as a real father and provided food and shelter while the child and their mother lived with him until they broke it off. Because the genetic father is nowhere in the picture and the mother used this man in the paperwork, he is on the hook. Sadly, I agree with the legal system in this case. The only other possible thing was state welfare which conservatives would disagree with to no end.
It has nothing to do with being PC or being soft on criminals. It's based on centuries old laws. Every state will go to great lengths to find someone to support a family basically so it doesn't have to. It's in every Family Law statue regarding the care of children. It doesn't matter if the kid is yours or not. Your name is on the paper, you are obligated to take care of the child. The judge was simply doing her job of upholding the law. It was up to him to make certain he was no longer responsible for this child when he broke up with his girlfriend. All he had to do was go to court and get his name taken off the papers.
The details of this story are sparsely given. There is probably more to it. I feel sorry for this poor guy. He can appeal but that will cost him too.
He never put his name ON the papers SHE DID. He had no idea that she had claimed he was the childs father.
I've read it and I feel for the man as well as the woman who had to scribble a name because of whatever reason she don't know who the father was. The state should just eat the bill.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
