[sbMKE]

This isn’t traffic court - this is well beyond reasonable, even if the guy tore up the court papers and refused to appear at first, the fact is he’s being prosecuted without basis - how do we know that the real father isn’t still with the child and standing to enjoy the fruits of the scam?

The mother should be sued and locked in debtors prison to rot - alongside anyone in the courts that let this continue well past the point of common sense.

[caver]

“how do we know that the real father isn’t still with the child and standing to enjoy the fruits of the scam?”

Good question. My point is that once the mother has told a man that he is the father, then later found out not to be, some here think he ought to keep paying.

[RogerFGay]

how do we know that the real father isn’t still with the child and standing to enjoy the fruits of the scam?

It's known to happen often enough. Even when children are born within marriage, the mother files for divorce, and within some "reasonable" lenght of time is living with someone else - the children could very well be those of the new guy - the result of an affair during the old marriage. He just laid low until the dust died down and the scheme gives them a higher total income.