posted 10-17-2005 11:19 AM            

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Paternity Matters

Although DNA testing has cut-down on many of the controversies regarding paternity, there are still many situations where there have been individual injustices.
For instance, many alleged fathers have shown up in Court unaware of their right to request DNA testing; or paternity has been established by default (the father failing to initially show-up to Court).
Years later, even if the alleged father discovered that paternity was established in error, he was generally still 100% legally responsible for all past and current child support. (Ironically, the real father, who might even be living with the mother and child, might have no legal responsibility whatsoever.)

It is extremely important to note that under the new law, there are STRICT TIME DEADLINES in which you must exercise your rights.

This is one of many cases. Although the DNA test may show that your husband is not the father he will still be liable.

This article was in the Minneapolis (Minnesota) Star Tribune Tuesday/March7/1995
He is not the father, but must pay support
Court: Limitations period ran out.
A Ramsey County man must continue paying child support for a 5 year old child even though paternity tests show that he is not the father, the Minnesota Court of Appeals has ruled.
Eric Dembly Jr. and Ann Christine DeGrande signed a document when the child was born in August 1989 saying that he was the father, His child support was increased to $157 a month as his income rose.
In January 1993, Dembly requested a blood test because DeGrande had told him that he was not the child's father, court records say. The tests concluded that Dembly was not the father.
But in a 2-1 ruling to be filed today, the court said Dembly is still liable for child support because he did not take the blood test until after the three year statute of limitations had expired.
The above is a hand-transcription of the first few paragraphs of this story which had an ASSOCIATED PRESS byline.
[start my comments] I saw the guy on the local news last night. He said that the mother has not allowed him to see the child for over a year.

posted 12-09-2005 11:33 PM         

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Mommyof2 provided an excellent article on the subject of paternity and how it affects a man once it is established..
I inadvertantly left out another way paternity can be established and that is through a declaration signed by both parties..It's a binding contract that essentially states each party agrees the man is the biological father........When the forms are signed, each party usually has a specific time frame to rescind it(in writing), but once that time period has lapsed, paternity is legally and absolutely established..Most states are starting to adopt a Declaration of paternity, unfortunatly, many of men sign it and really aren't the father...they are just trying to do the right thing by accepting the issue of them being the father for name sake...They just don't understand the ramifications or consequences it can have in the long run(it also does a lot of good too for other reasons)..

As in the article, adjudication of paterntiy was set prior to him taking the genetic test and if the court doesn't set aside a previous adjudication of paternity, then the guy is stuck. It won't matter how many genetic tests he completes, he will always be held out to be the LEGAL father. I have seen this happen in many cases where I work..Law is not moral.

All times are CT (US)