Sugar Daddy: Know Your Paternity Rights
Now, your girlfriend wants to break up and wants nothing to do with you. And oh, by the way, she has a news flash for you. You know the child you’ve been supporting? The little girl who’s been calling you daddy and snuggling on your lap? The child you’ve been buying birthday and Christmas gifts for over the last six years? Guess what? You’re not the baby’s daddy after all.
What now? What about the over $20,000 in child support payments you’ve made over the past six years? It sure adds up fast, doesn’t it? Are you entitled to get that money back? Unfortunately, in today’s legal environment, the answer is no. In fact, under the laws of most states, even if you find out the child you’ve been supporting is not your biological child, you will likely still be on the hook for child support until the child reaches the age of 18.
More often than is widely known, a paternity case may turn out to be the kind of situation where nice guys finish last. Mothers who are receiving state aid are required to provide the district attorney with the name of the child’s father so that the county can recover a portion of that aid through child support payments. Mothers who are not receiving state aid can also go to the district attorney for assistance in collecting child support payments.
Unfortunately, some studies have shown that, for a variety of reasons, including fear, wishful thinking, or not wanting to be joined for life to the jerk who is the baby’s daddy, single moms may provide the district attorney with the wrong name in connection with a claim for child support. And many men, having absolutely no reason to doubt that the child belongs to them, do the right thing and start making those monthly payments, no questions asked.
Under the laws of most states, once a man has signed an acknowledgment of paternity and a judgment of paternity has been entered by the Court, it’s a done deal and there’s no turning back. In the eyes of the law, a father-child relationship has been established. For obvious reasons, legal movers and shakers have no reason to want to change that. They are interested in collecting child support payments from a father. Unfortunately, in some instances, any father will do. Once you’re on the hook, they have no reason to want to let you go.
Despite the state of the law, there have been cases where paternity judgments have been voided in the face of strong evidence that the man in question is not the father. In those cases, the powers that be yielded to strong pressure, in part to avoid taking the case to a higher court, which would mean risking a statewide or even nationwide reversal of current paternity laws. In successful cases, the men involved were able to obtain scientific evidence through DNA testing that the child truly was not theirs. With the assistance of effective counsel, they were able to convince the district attorney or the courts to make an exception.
The lesson here is for all men faced with a claim of paternity to request DNA testing before admitting paternity or signing anything. This is your right. And, it holds true no matter how much you trust the mother of your child. Trust has little to do with it. This is an obligation you owe not only yourself and the child’s mother, but the child as well. The California Supreme Court said it best in Salas vs. Cortez (1979) 24 Cal.3d 22: “If the child is to have anything, it is in the child’s interest not only to have it adjudicated that Some Man is his or her father and thus liable for support, but to have some assurance that the correct person has been so identified.”
The Salas Court and other courts have recognized that a judgment of paternity has implications that extend far beyond an obligation to make monthly child support payments. The father-child relationship carries with it strong emotional and psychological bonds. Once a man is legally adjudged to be a child’s father, he can have his wages garnished for child support and can be court-ordered to seek employment. He can also be criminally prosecuted and do jail time if he fails to make child support payments. Also, under the laws of most states, the child will be obligated to support the father if he becomes incapacitated. And, unless specifically excluded by will, the child will be entitled to share in the father’s estate after he dies. Thus, as the Salas Court noted, the implications of a father-child relationship “reach beyond the grave.”
So start things off on the right foot and get the paternity issued settled at the outset. Once you’re on the hook for child support, it may very well be too late to turn back the clock. If at some point down the road evidence surfaces that the child may not be yours, good luck trying to get your local district attorney to agree to a DNA test at that point. It simply ain’t gonna happen.
Bottom line: Will you be entitled to a refund of child support later on, if it comes to light that you are not the child’s father after all? No. Can you undo the emotional damage to you and particularly to the child at that point? Probably not.
Your child deserves to have you go into this with your whole heart. So, take care of the legal stuff now, put it behind you, and get on with the business of loving your child.
