He's not the father, but he is on the hook

[frostyboy]

From The Herald Tribune:

He's not the father, but he is on the hook

Though he wasn't about to marry a woman he had dated and
long-since broken up with for good cause, Christopher Martin of
Sarasota says he wanted to act responsibly.

When she claimed in 2004 to be pregnant with his baby, he
believed her, he says, because they had sex one time well after
their breakup.

He feels stupid about believing her, he says. He and she were
both about 30, old enough that neither should have been naive.

But when a state agency urged him to sign papers acknowledging paternity and agreeing to pay child support, he did so. It never occurred to him to insist on a DNA test, he says.

Dannis Barrows often dropped the baby at Martin's place during the first year, he says. But one day, when angry with him about a schedule change request, she heatedly told him he wasn't the father.

Or so he testified in court on Thursday. She testified, too, and denied saying that.

Either way, he then wanted a DNA test, but could not get one.

He claims she purposely hid the toddler from him to avoid the test. Barrows denies that, but acknowledges taking the boy to her native Colombia, where he stayed with relatives for a year even though she soon returned to Sarasota.

So Martin, a tile setter, seriously slacked off on child support payments, as you might imagine. But the state, and Barrows, kept hounding him for the money.

Then he lucked out. Soon after the child came back to Florida, Barrows was arrested on a DUI charge with the boy in the car. He got the child briefly, swabbed his cheek, paid for a DNA test, and learned the truth.

That was two and a half years ago. He filed to dissolve paternity.

No problem, you're thinking? Wrong. His test wasn't official, and without a lawyer, Martin got nowhere.

But then Barrows had a second DUI arrest, again with the child in the car.

Child welfare workers urged him to take temporary custody. But when he explained that he wasn't really the father, it was suddenly the state insisting on the official DNA test.

Martin complied happily, and the test proved that he is not the father. Martin got a lawyer, Todd Hunger, to help with his petition to overturn the paternity agreement.

So, is he off the hook at last?

Nope. I thought Judge Robert McDonald might settle all this on Thursday. Heck, it has been 17 months since the state's DNA test.

But another hearing, maybe next month, will be required, partly because the law is so weird. One Florida statute makes it possible to dissolve paternity in such a case, with a catch: Martin must be paid up on child support.

He doesn't have the $30,000 he supposedly owes and, besides, not paying that is pretty much the point for him. Well, that and not paying the $204 weekly for another 13 years.

So another statute applies, but it allows paternity to be dissolved "only on the basis of fraud, duress or material mistake of fact."

Fraud would include a woman lying to keep the real father a secret, but I have no idea if Martin can prove that.

I wish the guys luck. Martin and the little boy he thought was his son, I mean. The state claims to be looking out for the boy's interests, but I wonder.

The real father remains unidentified, and the state's lawyers are busy fighting Martin and so have no reason to bother finding the other guy.

Heck, they have a sucker on the hook already, and he has no idea if he will ever get off.

[Zuberi]

Another freeloader uses the bait and trap technique!!!


This will be yet another Christmas where I probably won't see my dad!
I know who to thank for this!!!!!

[shaazam]

I will reiterate a case a few years ago in NSW Australia

a guy - the putative father - or you may designate him as the patsy ! had been paying child support to the tune of $A 80 000

by and by per a clandestine DNA test he found out that he was not the father - before they chanaged the law here that without Mommas consent such DNA tests are not admissible in court

he sued her for the recoupment of the $A 80 000 and won!!

but wait !!!

there is more !!!

she was ordered to repay him at $A2/week

Momma Mia here we go agin my my what a typical outcome

Ok justice had been done ! so the media went to interview Momma about the ruling

the reporter asked her why she had claimed child support off of him when he was not the father

her reply after which she slammed the door in the reporters face

""HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN""

her operating philosopy

Cock a doodle do any any dick will do