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 ...
He wants to have the DNA test to prove he is the father, but is told by the doctor that taking DNA from the baby before it's born is risky, and the guy doesn't want to risk the baby's health. Yet, when the baby is born it supposedly takes weeks to get the DNA result and so the guy will be pressured by the girl to sign the birth certificate as the father before the DNA results are returned.
What are the guy's best options under these circumstances to protect the baby's life and health while protecting his right to prove he is or is not the father? Anyone have any advice?
This article is about the fact that a mother cannot be held liable for fraud when identifying a father. You dismiss the fraud angle because you believe a woman who screws multiple men, but lists one on the birth certificate, is not committing fraud.
Let me ask you this, when a woman doesn’t know which potential father is the daddy, how often do they pick the person who is a drug dealer or unemployed, versus the person who has a steady job? hmmmm, I wonder.
This new law would create a legal/criminal definition of fraud for misidentifying the father. This would allow the mother to be held to account, instead of being financially rewarded for her deceipt. This law would allow the father to seek compensation for his loss.
If someone stole $100, you and I would ignore the loss, would we not? What about if they stole $1,000? or $10,000? or $100,000? or $1,000,000? At what price would you stop “being a man” and desire compensation?
this is such trashy stuff.
some women don’t know who the father of their child is...
That's fine, I don't doubt those numbers. Still, my point stands - there are quite a few folks out there who are wrong about who Daddy is.
I’ve followed threads before, and I don’t believe he’s a troll. He just sees things differently.
Ramblers were great cars. Straight six with “three on the tree.”
Get the swab the day of the birth. Results in 48 hours over the internet. (They send you the kit ahead of time.)
Saw this on a billboard while stuck in I-45 in Houston.
IOWS...there's a lot of men who are fathers who could be hauled into court and forced to pay for years of child support....
again, be careful what you wish for....who knows how many of our own fathers, brothers, and/or husbands could be in this predicament....
it will be a boon for the lawyering up sector....
of course, you could just have a good and decent father, good and decent brothers and brother in laws, and you could have a good and decent husband so none of this activity would affect you....
ah...morality...its so old fashioned....
If you doubt that baby is yours, then DON’T SIGN THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE and get a lawyer.
It would probably have to be a finding of fact by the court, but I'd say it would be somewhere around 1 year of age and 2 years of age.
I have a concern about some deciding for others what they "need" to know.
Yup. She’ll be a great mom, teaching her children ethics as she practices them.
For simplicity’s sake, give the father the options of custody or child support - his choice. Give the mother no options at all.
Great info. Any idea what I’d google to find this company?
Not a fallacy, really. I can;t make a person love their child, but we can make them part of their lives. I seek to avoid them ‘checking out’ on that relationship based on exaggerated self pity and a desire to punish the mother.
I think that’s a legitimate goal of the law, though of course you are right and there’s no way to make him a good daddy. But of course, there’s no way to make a man a good daddy in any circumstance - that factor is on each side of any equation on this matter, so it cancels itself out.
The fact that the child has a parent-child relationship with a man isn’t ‘wrong.’ The parent engaged in that relationship, encouraging it.
They might be wrong about paternity, of course. But I wasn’t arguing about paternity. There is nothing wrong about the child recognizing a personal relationship that in fact exists.
Call a waaaaaaaaaaaaambulance.
Yes.
What if he doesn’t like that kid?
That's not an inexorable component of the bond.
Nope.
The relationship we are discussing is between father figure and child. Serving the mother a hit has nothing much to do with that relationship, no matter how much it may appeal to some out of a sense of vindictiveness.
There are many, many divorced men who aren't in this bad a situation. What's the difference between the divorced men who do fine, and the divorce men who wilt and fold into a sea of self pity?
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