Posted on 04/10/2007 1:21:59 PM PDT by Quick or Dead
JEFFERSON CITY David Salazar is what many would call a "duped dad."
Repeatedly, courts have ordered him to pay child support for a 5-year-old girl, even though no one not a judge and not the child's mother claims he's the father.
In the eyes of many, Salazar, of Buchanan County, is the victim of a law that traps men into the child support payments, even though they can prove they're not the dads.
-snip-
That kind of statement angers Sen. Chris Koster, who is sponsoring the Missouri bill.
Koster, R-Harrisonville, said he knew children would be harmed as men used DNA to break paternity. But he said the current law mocked justice by pretending that a man is a father even when the evidence proves otherwise.
His bill would allow men to bring forward DNA evidence at any time to prove they are not obligated to pay child support.
-snip-
Linda Elrod, director of the Children and Family Law Center at Washburn University, said she was saddened by cases where DNA evidence was used to challenge paternity. She said the cases not only cut off support payments but often ruptured a mature parental bond.
Others, such as Jacobs, want to set a two-year deadline for using genetic tests to challenge paternity. She said courts also needed the discretion to weigh the quality of a parental relationship and the best interest of a child.
But Koster said such arguments by law professors ignored the fundamental truth in many cases that the man is not the father and should not be obligated to pretend he is.
"It would be just as arbitrary to hang the responsibility of supporting the child with those professors," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
Or maybe neither of them should get to choose.
“LOL I’ve seen those Maury shows where some fat hog is screaming at some poor guy, “You my baby-daddy! You my baby-daddy! An’ you gon’ pay up, too!” Only to start screaming and sobbing when the DNA tests show that neither of the two guys they had on the stage were her “baby-daddy”.”
on one show, I believe she was at number 13.
“How would you feel about making good old mom pay back every red cent with interest after the child turns 18?”
whistle. applause. cheer.
They should call this form of slavery “Whore Support”.
I do understand all that, I am a lawyer after all. Admittedly, not involve din family law.
But your commentary is misplaced. Everything you say is valid, but has nothing much to do with child support, which is what I was addressing.
Thus, suggesting the the courts should determine a mothers intent to commit fraud is irrelevant on two levels. One, the fact that the law looks at both parties without regard to who is at fault or more/most at fault. Two, family law is civil court and not criminal court and her intent is irrelevant to the supposed interest of the child.
It was the other Freepers who raised fraud, I never did. I was just responding to their embracing of finding fraud relevant in this case, and noting that fraud necessitates the intent to defraud, which isn't necessarily the case in these situations. I agree, fault doesn't matter in divorce law, but that insight is best saved to those who raised the issue in the first place, not me. Your commentary isn't wrong, but it's misplaced.
For what it's worth, your stats are way off. It's a common enough error, but they're overcounting the people who cheat with multiple partners.
The best long-term studies show that roughly 20% of married woman, and 30% of married men, ever cheat on a spouse during their lifetime. Sure, I wish the numbers were even lower, but they're not 33 and 50%, either.
Drew Garrett
And I disagree with you about the fitness of a Mother - if she cheats on her spouse, then lies about something as crucial to the overall well being of that child as his parentage, she is unfit.
There is a logical fallacy to your argument. You calim that you don't want to see a child lose the relationship he/she has with the only father he/she has ever known. But no law can ever force a someone to have a loving relationship with another person. So if a man finds out the child he thoought was his was fathered by another man, no law can prevent him from choosing to end the contact with the child. The only thing that the law can do is force him to pay money. So the law does not protect the child emotionally at all - it just protects the lying mother financially.
Sorry, they abolished slavery about 150 years agon in this county.
I agree. Go after the woman with the full power of the state just like you would a 'deadbeat' dad.
What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
Or is it only 'equal rights' when you get something for nothing?
Of course I am not a troll, anyone who knows me on FR over the last several years can tell you that.
I'm glad you care what the child thinks. But keep something in mind...
The child is wrong.
I do not think it is the business of the government to try to force reality to fit a child's mistaken beliefs. The duped dad is not the biological father, and if he wants nothing more to do with the child, he's not the Dad either. That's reality, there's the facts.
It is not the government's job to indulge fantasy.
Drew Garrett
What if the thinks her husband is the father, rather than her boyfriend? That might make her dishonest, but not totally dishonest.
We're getting there, aren't we? Establish a system that rewards irresponsibility and punishes responsibility...and what will happen?
I'm amazed that those who claim to speak for the best interests of the child can't see this. Short term "benefit" at the cost of long term suicide.
If the father doesn’t cough up the money then the gubmind gets to pay in many cases.
Why oh why should someone who is not a person’s biological father pay child support for any reason outside of generosity? Because he has a “bond”? What if he doesn’t like that kid? It should be a personal choice, not a court mandated choice.
Only an unusually weak male who expects to encounter this situation. Truly, men never really know who the father of their child is for sure, never stopped them before.
Do you rather enjoy being beaten around yours?
I imagine then that a woman could bring forth AT ANY TIME DNA evidence that proves some joker owes her tons of money for their kids even if 20 yrs has passed.....
men will rue the day that their sperm is the sole factor in being a father.....
It works both ways......
some women may find this a convenient way to rid themselves of custody battles with non-father fathers.....
be careful what you wish for....
Well, there's your problem.
You left 'adult female' out of the equation.
Obviously, that's where any 'hit' should be taken.
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