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POST-DISPATCH
'Duped dads' fight back in paternity cases
Post-Dispatch, JEFFERSON CITY BUREAU, Missouri, USA,
By Matt Franck , April 10, 2007
JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri, USA €” 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.
Now, cases such as Salazar's are inspiring legislation
in Missouri and across the country that would make it
easier for men to use genetic tests to shed financial
support. Advertisement
Salazar doesn't have that option now. Under Missouri
law, he was presumed to be a father simply because he
was married to the mother when she gave birth.
The same law gives men, both married and unmarried, a
limited time frame to challenge paternity. After those
deadlines have passed, even DNA tests often aren't
enough to shake paternity obligations.
Salazar's attorney says felons have more rights when it
comes to using genetic evidence to overturn court
rulings.
"It's a sad day when someone can use DNA tests to walk
out of prison, and yet with my client they don't want to
check the DNA," attorney Merle Turner said.
But critics of the Missouri bill say walking out of
prison and walking out on a father-child relationship
are two different things.
They say the Missouri bill ignores the damage that's
done when a man abruptly severs parental ties. They also
say courts should consider emotional bonds, and not just
DNA evidence, as they enforce the definition of
fatherhood.
"Someone who has functioned as a dad for many years
should not be able to disestablish paternity just with
biology," said Melanie Jacobs, a law professor at
Michigan State University.
Truth as a guide
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.
He said current law set meaningless deadlines,
forgetting that men may not learn for years that they
were lied to by mothers. His bill would allow men to
bring forward DNA evidence at any time to prove they are
not obligated to pay child support.
Missouri law presumes a married man is the father of
children born in wedlock.
That presumption is often cemented during a divorce, as
courts set child support. After that, men have a year to
dispute a legal finding of paternity.
The law is a bit more complicated when a mother is
single. In some of those cases, men voluntarily list
themselves as the father.
In other cases, the issue of paternity is fought out in
court, with DNA evidence being used to resolve disputes.
Often, the state enters the fray, seeking child support
payments for children who receive public assistance.
But in disputed cases, men in Missouri have only 60 days
to object to being named a father. After that, they must
prove they were the victims of fraud in order to fight a
paternity finding.
Critics say the current system penalizes fathers who
fail to immediately question the faithfulness of a wife
or girlfriend.
"If he doesn't find out early on that he is indeed the
biological father, the fact that he trusted the mother
would be used against him," said Carnell Smith, a man
from Georgia who now leads a national effort to change
paternity laws.
It's unclear how many men are involved in paternity
disputes each year nationwide. But the Internet is
brimming with sites on paternity fraud, such as the one
Smith maintains to push legislation and offer men advice
on genetic tests.
Smith himself said he was the victim of deception by his
ex-wife. After the divorce, he grew suspicious as to
whether he was truly the father of an 11-year-old girl.
DNA evidence confirmed he was not, after he had paid
$100,000 in child support.
Smith said he wanted to maintain a relationship with the
girl he once thought was his daughter, he just didn't
want to pay for her support. But he said the mother
would not allow visits.
The bonding issue
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.
"I think it is a crime to be doing this when the child
is 12 years old," she said.
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.
Koster said he was inspired to file the bill after
hearing about the Salazar case.
In that case, Salazar did not reply to court notices
seeking more than $13,000 in child support. Salazar
could not be reached for comment.
Turner, his attorney, said he was largely uneducated and
did not understand the court process. But she said that
shouldn't have mattered, because even the mother had
said in court that he wasn't the father.
Koster's bill has cleared the Senate committee but has
yet to be debated on the floor. If approved, Missouri
would join Ohio, Florida and Georgia in approving
similar laws.
As legislation is passed, Smith said he would like
states to move to eliminate paternity disputes before
they even begin by mandating DNA tests of all newborns €”
even if parents were married.
Koster said he didn't believe Missouri was prepared for
such a law, especially because it could destroy
marriages in the delivery room.
But the idea of paternity tests at birth has support
among some of the same child advocates who oppose
Koster's DNA bill.
"It's going to create some sad people in the delivery
room," Elrod said. "But is that better or worse than
having a father tell a 10-year-old, 'I'm not going to
see you anymore'?"
The bill is SB55.
RELATED LINK
Missouri
bill on establishing paternity
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