Paternity Testing and Family Law Weblog

Brian Maass
CBS4Denver.com

(CBS4) DENVER Some Colorado men have been paying thousands of dollars to raise someone else's child. A CBS4 investigation uncovered their plight and now state legislators are considering new laws to protect them. The men call themselves victims of "paternity fraud" and said they're presumed guilty until they can prove they are innocent.

Ron Casias of Centennial said he was stunned when he started getting notices from the state of California that said his wages were being garnished to pay thousands of dollars in child support for a teenage boy he had supposedly fathered.

Source: http://cbs4denver.com/topstories/local_story_187011018.html

Forbes.com

MONDAY, April 17 (HealthDay News) -- Ninety-eight percent of men raising children they believe to be their biological offspring are right to think so, according to the largest review of paternity and genetic test data ever conducted. Even men who actively seek out paternity tests because they doubt their paternity turn out to be wrong most of the time, the study found.

"Only about 30 percent of those men aren't the father," said researcher Kermyt Anderson, an assistant professor in the department of anthropology at the University of Oklahoma.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/health/feeds/hscout/2006/04/17/hscout532176.html

CHET BROKAW
Aberdeen News

PIERRE, S.D. - A South Dakota man waited too long to seek genetic testing to determine whether he is the father of a girl who was born after he and his former wife had split up, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The high court upheld a circuit judge's decision that said David Chapman could not pursue genetic testing because the paternity issue had been settled earlier when Chapman failed to raise the issue during proceedings that set his child support payments. South Dakota law sets deadlines for filing a paternity challenge involving a child born in wedlock, and Chapman filed well after those deadlines, the Supreme Court said in a case that started in Meade County.

Source: http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/14334948.htm

Tresa Baldas
Law.com

Paternity fraud is rampant in the United States, triggering legislation and legal challenges in more than a dozen states, according to family law attorneys and fathers' rights activists.

At issue: Men claim women are getting away with trickery -- DNA evidence may show a man is not the father, but the courts are still forcing him to pay child support anyway. "This is the new underdog," said Michigan family law attorney Michele Kelly, who represents mostly men tangled in paternity disputes. "I was a staunch feminist. I marched with Gloria Steinem. But the new victims in America are working men. All they are is a mule train."

Source: http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1144414531354

Drake Bennett
The Boston Globe

EARLIER THIS MONTH, a 25-year-old Michigan computer programmer named Matthew Dubay sued in federal court to avoid paying child support for his 7-month-old daughter. The girl's mother, he alleges, had claimed to be both infertile and on birth control, and he had made it clear all along that he didn't want children. The resulting pregnancy, as he saw it, was simply not his fault, and the child not in any way his responsibility.

It's a common enough situation, but the National Center for Men, a New York-based advocacy group that is coordinating and paying for the lawsuit, claims to have waited years for a plaintiff as compelling as Dubay. The Center has labeled (and, incidentally, trademarked) the case ''Roe v. Wade for Men."

Source: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2006/03/26/a_mans_right_to_choose/

Kim Kozlowski
The Detroit News

Fathers paying child support for children who are not biologically theirs were cheering Thursday for Doug Richardson, who went to court and got his child support payments stopped and what he owes wiped out. Still, Richardson said his fight is not over. He will continue to work to get laws in Michigan changed.

"It's a good step in the right way for others in the court system," Richardson said, "but I have a road ahead of me, working with (lawmakers)." Richardson paid an estimated $80,000 in child support over 15 years to his ex-wife even though a DNA test showed their first son was not his. Richardson said he paid support to his ex-wife while she lived with the child's biological father and then later to the biological father when the couple split up.

Source: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060324/POLITICS/603240405

WorldNetDaily.com

WASHINGTON – More than three years ago, a Maine district court judge ruled that Geoffrey Fisher no longer had to pay child support for a child that wasn't his. But that didn't stop the state from revoking Fisher's driver's license and coming after him for thousands of dollars it says he owes in back payments.

Last year, Maine sent Fisher, 35, a letter seeking $11,450 in child support, even though officials know that DNA tests proved he isn't the father of the child in question. As the nation experiences an unprecedented increase in unwed motherhood, more men are finding themselves named as "fathers," for purposes of child support, simply because of their ability to pay, say several recent studies.

Source: http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48871

WTOL-TV

COLUMBUS, Ohio Ohio Governor Bob Taft is expected to sign a bill that targets deadbeat parents by adding interest charges on unpaid child support. The state Legislature passed the bill this month.

The bill also aims to speed up the time it takes to get paternity tests on children. The bill would allow unwed mothers to go directly to a juvenile court to get a genetic testing order, bypassing county child enforcement agencies. Women seek the majority of paternity tests so they can collect child support.

Source: http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=4426000

Stephen D. Price
Tallahassee Democrat

A House committee has unanimously approved a bill that would let a man end his child-support obligation if he proves he's not the biological father. This will be the second time the bill, which the committee passed this week, will go before the House. A Senate version passed last year, but the House didn't get a chance to vote on it.

"Everyone just agrees it's a fair thing to do," said the sponsor, Rep. Curtis Richardson, D-Tallahassee. Generally, Florida law requires that child support - once legally established - continue until the child's 18th birthday, regardless of who the biological father is. Eleven states, including Georgia, have changed similar laws since 1994.

Source: http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060128/NEWS01/601280324/1010

Karen McConkey
The Kinston Free Press

Armed with DNA testing kits, Lenoir County Department of Social Services child support staff now have a new tool that caseworkers can use to ensure children in Lenoir County receive every benefit they deserve from their biological fathers. "We're very excited about this," Susan Moore, Child Assistance supervisor said about the department's capability to not only issue and enforce child support orders, but also conduct testing to establish paternity.

Just last month, DSS child support staff were trained by LabCorp to administer DNA testing to establish paternity in child support cases. "Paternity is assumed when a child is born in a marriage," Moore explained. "That's not the case in children born to a couple who are unmarried or to a mother who is unsure of the child's paternity."

Source: http://www.kinston.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=33605&Section=Local

U.S. Newswire

DENVER, Jan. 6 /U.S. Newswire/ -- On New Year's Day the children and fathers of Colorado got a present courtesy of the state legislature. Effective January 1, a man's right to challenge his paternity of alleged offspring was restricted to the duration of the proceedings of a divorce, separation or child support action.

Once a final order is entered in that proceeding, a new state law says, the putative father is barred from presenting newly discovered evidence of non-paternity -- ever. State Senate Bill 181, enacted in Colorado's 2005 legislative session, requires that any evidence from genetic testing of parent and child be introduced before the entry of final orders. The new law applies to divorce, child support establishment and enforcement and parentage.

Source: http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=58918

April M. Washington
Rocky Mountain News

Colorado will ring in 2006 with 18 new laws in addition to fireworks and renditions of Auld Lang Syne. Topping the list is a new law aimed at preventing children from becoming the casualties of nasty divorces and domestic disputes. Another new measure would make it easier for young adults to remain on their parent's health insurance until age 25 - even if they do not attend college.

Senate Bill 181 will bar genetic testing to establish paternity after a divorce or legal separation. State lawmakers set out to "protect the family structure" and children three years ago after a man attempted to skirt child support by questioning the paternity of his daughter 11 years after her birth, said state Rep. Cheri Jahn, D-Jefferson County, a primary sponsor of the bill.

Source: http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4346100,00.html

JOANNA GROSSMAN
FindLaw's Writ

This month, in the case of Parker v. Parker, a Florida appeals court held that a man can, against his will, be deemed a father and obliged to support a child born to his wife during their marriage, despite the fact that the two have no biological or adoptive relationship.

This result may seem counterintuitive to some readers. A man like Richard Parker tends to evoke some immediate sympathy - he's the poor sucker who will pay support for a child conceived by his ex-wife during an adulterous affair.

Source: http://writ.news.findlaw.com/grossman/20051227.html

JAN L. WARNER AND JAN COLLINS
The News-Sentinel

Q: I am the father of a son to my girlfriend six months ago. I am 27 and have never been married; she is 39. She was divorced from her first husband and her second husband was killed in an accident. She has two other children. I have tried to provide for her financially during the pregnancy and since my son was born, but she would not accept anything from me. She has refused to allow me to see my son and has even gone so far as to give him her last name on the birth certificate. Moreover, I had no input into his first name.

In addition to wanting to support my son, I also want him to carry my name, but she will not talk to me. I have received a letter from her lawyer telling me that she does not know if I am the baby's father and, even if I am, she will not allow me to change the baby's name to mine. I don't understand her refusal to accept help or to allow me to see my son and involve me in the naming process. Is it possible to get my son's name changed and to visit with him?

Source: http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/13331518.htm

Dr. Philip S. Chua
PINOY.com

What does DNA stand for? DNA stands for Deoxyribo-Nucleic Acid, the “substance” that is analyzed in the state-of-the-art test to determine paternity, and in other cases, maternity.

The genetic information or “genetic code” of a person is carried in the DNA of the chromosomes and mitochondria. An individual’s genetic composition is called genome and is established at conception. We have 100,000 genes encoded by 3 billion chemical pairs in our DNA. Each person is, indeed, an individual, with a unique genome.

Source: http://www.pinoymonthly.net/10-2005/health02DNA.htm

Vince Stricherz
uwnews.org

Substantially more men than women favor routine paternity testing when a baby is born, according to a recent University of Washington survey, but the surprise to researchers is that the percentage of men favoring such testing wasn't higher.

"The amazing thing is that the guys are always split 50-50. Age and income groups don't seem to matter," said Lisa Hayward, a UW doctoral student in biology and lead author of a paper reporting the findings in the current issue of the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.

Source: http://www.uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=5645

ELLIE TESCHER
Chicago Sun-Times

DEAR ELLIE: I'm 51. I had a common-law wife, and I knew she was lying when she said the baby was mine. When the boy was age 1, she'd stay out all night, leaving me to baby-sit. I was often unable to work (self-employed) because of baby-sitting. I left when he was 2, paid child support and had him every second weekend and summer months when he was young. Her mother had him the other weekend, so he'd be away from his mom while she'd be drinking or getting high.

The boy is now 14. Recently, his mother met up with his real father and, without telling me, they had a paternity test done in a nearby city. My son told me he went along to prove them wrong. But the test proved this guy was the boy's father. The child's world has been destroyed. The guy was here for only one day; he lives far away.

Source: http://www.suntimes.com/output/ellie/cst-ftr-ellie1124.html

TownOnline.com

Northeast Mobile DNA Screening, a division of Accurate Health Screening, of Needham, has commenced operations in Massachusetts. The company provides mobile DNA testing for paternity testing with certified ABBA and CLIA laboratories of which results are court admissible. The company also offers home testing kits.

Clients will be able to have their DNA samples collected at a site of their choice and the results will be available in 72 hours. The painless, noninvasive collection is done using a simple mouth swab and does not involve drawing blood.

Source: http://www2.townonline.com/easton/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=376392

Ronald Lipman
Houston Chronicle Online

Q: My wife filed for divorce after 18 years of marriage. One child is 12 and the other is 10. I'm fairly certain the 12-year-old is not mine. Do I have to pay child support for him? My wife will not admit who the real father is, and she keeps saying he is my child.

A: You should ask your attorney to file an answer denying that you are the father of the 12-year-old.

Source: http://www.chron.com/c/disp/story.mpl/business/3408602.html