Duped Dads

Posted on | January 27, 2007 | 1 Comment

I have ranted about the problem of Paternity Fraud before, now it a appears Time Magazine has taken a peek at it. A glancing and superficial one, granted, but at least they looked.

Advocates for these so-called duped dads say such men should be treated as victims of fraud and liken the need for paternity-disestablishment amendments to truth-in-lending laws. They point to many an egregious case in which the law’s marital presumption of fatherhood has ended up enslaving a divorced dad, like the Michigan man who proved he had not sired his son but was still ordered to send child-support payments directly to the boy’s biological father, who was granted custody after the mom moved out of his place and left the kid there. Increasingly, policymakers across the country are turning a sympathetic ear to such complaints. Florida last year joined Georgia and Ohio in allowing a man to walk away from any financial obligations regardless of how many years he may have been acting as a minor’s father if he discovers he was deceived into parenthood. Fathers’ rights groups in Colorado, Illinois and West Virginia are pushing for similar legislation that would remove or extend existing time limits for challenging paternity.

Yes, indeed, that makes sense. The duped dad sending money to the bio dad, and the perpetrator mother gone.
(Hat Tip Divorce Law Journal)

In New York, once you accept paternity, you are the father – regardless of the facts.

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