Who's Your Daddy?

UnHope20 · 2021-11-10T01:16:54+00:00

When paternity cases make the headlines, they are either about identified deadbeat dads who egregiously fail to pay child support or famous actors, basketball players, football players, or rock stars being sued by a woman alleging he fathered her child. Increasingly, however, cases dubbed “paternity fraud” are garnering newsworthy attention.

Paternity fraud can stem from a variety of circumstances, but ultimately, they all culminate in a man who is not a child's biological father being declared so by a court and thus becoming required by law to pay child support. Sometimes paternity fraud cases germinate from an intentional action by a mother who is seeking revenge against a certain man, or who believes man “X” is better able to pay child support than the child's actual biological father, or who is trying to hide an extramarital affair.

The fraud might also be more a result of apathy than intention when a woman is confused or makes little effort to determine the true identity of a child's biological father. The fault for paternity fraud could even fall partially on the shoulders of the man if he ignores a complaint to appear in court to defend himself and is declared the father by a default judgment.

Finally, the fraud might be an unintended consequence of long-standing state laws that decree a presumption of paternity to a husband if a child is born during or soon after the breakup of a marriage.1 This presumption, which has survived for more than 5 centuries, was crafted to preserve families and protect children who might otherwise be considered “bastards” or “illegitimates” and, as a result, have little entitlement or redress under the law. Quaint and antiquated, these laws and views are simply irrelevant in light of today's DNA technology.

For almost 2 decades now, courts have accepted DNA technology to identify deceaseds' remains, as well as killers, rapists, and other criminals.

More recently, the technology has been used to free innocent persons from jail, some even on death row. So why isn't the technology being used to free men from the burden of paying child support for children they did not father and, therefore, should not be responsible for? Sadly, it is mostly about the money.

Title	Who's Your Daddy?
Author	UnHope20
Upvotes	9
Comments	1
Date	November 10, 2021 1:11 AM UTC (4 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/Male_Studies
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/Male_Studies/comments/qqidcf/whos_your_daddy/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/Male_Studies/whos-your-daddy.1216136 https://theredarchive.com/post/1216136

Comments