Man forced to pay child support of child who is not his.

[lawtonfogle]

He has a DNA test to prove it's not his son, but still has to pay child support

This one comes with a twist. The mother put his name down thinking the child was his, but now that she has found out she was mistaken, she thinks he should NOT have to pay.

 

[wanderingone]

If the state failed to notify the man, and provide the paternity testing before they declared him the legal father they screwed up but it took this guy an awful long time to decide it was time to resolve the issue.

Personally I think this guy basically ignored the problem until it got out of control, and that's what happens with a lot of support cases, people don't tell the judge their income is reduced, they don't show up for court, they ignore notices.. and then they are shocked by the outcome.

My son has a friend who is still legally married - his wife and he have a daughter, he pays support and is a good dad, but he insists that since she kicked him out she should initiate and pay for the divorce.. meanwhile she's pregnant again, by her current boyfriend.. everyone keeps telling him he better get that divorce or he's legally dad to this baby as well. He waves everyone off but if he doesn't follow through legally to insure that the child is NOT considered his... he's looking at a long term financial mess.

 

[ArnautDaniel]

We are talking about fatherhood as a legal status, rather than a biological status.

If you adopt a kid you become legally the father.

So, the guy had legal obligations for a time that he was obliged to carry out, and failed to do so.

It is up to the guy to petition the court to change his legal status.

I suspect he would have to show that he in addition to not being the biological father that he also never accepted legal fatherhood status.

I don't think he can prove the second though. It would have been up to him to contest his status the moment he learned of it, which I think he didn't.

At this point, I suspect the best he can do is get out of future payments by changing his status. I think is still required to pay all support due from when he was legally the father.

Your status before the law is not dictated by physical facts.

 

[lawtonfogle]

If the state failed to notify the man, and provide the paternity testing before they declared him the legal father they screwed up but it took this guy an awful long time to decide it was time to resolve the issue.

Personally I think this guy basically ignored the problem until it got out of control, and that's what happens with a lot of support cases, people don't tell the judge their income is reduced, they don't show up for court, they ignore notices.. and then they are shocked by the outcome.

My son has a friend who is still legally married - his wife and he have a daughter, he pays support and is a good dad, but he insists that since she kicked him out she should initiate and pay for the divorce.. meanwhile she's pregnant again, by her current boyfriend.. everyone keeps telling him he better get that divorce or he's legally dad to this baby as well. He waves everyone off but if he doesn't follow through legally to insure that the child is NOT considered his... he's looking at a long term financial mess.

It seems he was in prison for grand theft when the child came along, and he was given a couple months upon being released to prove paternity. But he took longer than a couple months (but it was still only around a year) for him to get enough money to track down his son and pay for the test.

 

[lawtonfogle]

We are talking about fatherhood as a legal status, rather than a biological status.

If you adopt a kid you become legally the father.

So, the guy had legal obligations for a time that he was obliged to carry out, and failed to do so.

Where did he legally become the father? The only action was the mother listed him as the father. For a man to have legal obligations to a child should require action on his part. A woman should not sign a man up, especially without having to prove he is the father.

It is up to the guy to petition the court to change his legal status.

I suspect he would have to show that he in addition to not being the biological father that he also never accepted legal fatherhood status.

I don't think he can prove the second though. It would have been up to him to contest his status the moment he learned of it, which I think he didn't.

Seems a horrible plan. You have to contest the status as soon as someone list you as the father? It should be the other way around, you should have to sign up, you shouldn't have others sign you up.

At this point, I suspect the best he can do is get out of future payments by changing his status. I think is still required to pay all support due from when he was legally the father.

Your status before the law is not dictated by physical facts.

But the woman shouldn't have the power to change the fathers status. And he was in prison at the time, not much he probably could have done, at least not without having to pay someone to do it for him, which may have been outside his available budget.