Quote:
| Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck Sorry excon but we have some US states that even if you are NOT the father, but you are listed on the birth certificate and do not challenge it within a certain time frame( varies by state) then you will remain the father legally even if you later prove you are not.
So in those states the man listed on the birth certificate even though not the father will be forced to pay child support.
Not fair at all. |
I have to qualify this. The idea in the law, as I understand it, is to legally recognize that sometimes nuture trumps genetics. If, for example, the kid is 10 when the parents gets divorced, and the husband has been acting in the parental role all that time, it is extremely unfair to the kid to have dad able to say "he's not biologically mine, so I can walk away with no obligations to him." (And I really love those dads who, when finding out that the kid isn't theirs at that late date, say that they don't want any obligation to support or raise the kid, but of course they want to be able to keep doing the
fun dad/kid things with them.) On the other hand, in cases like this where the kid is only a few months old, the kid doesn't really have that many expectations about dad yet.