# If a married man's wife delivers a child that is not his can he contest responsibility for CS? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 26, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-married-mans-wife-delivers-a-child-that-is-not-his-can-he-contest-responsibility-for-cs/632765 "2012-08-26T23:53:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-married-mans-wife-delivers-a-child-that-is-not-his-can-he-contest-responsibility-for-cs/632765/1 "2012-08-26T23:53:50Z")
Per the OP if a married woman conceives a child as the result of an affair, and the husband learns the child is not his while she is still pregnant, can he contest financial responsibility for the child? In other words if the child is born while they are married is he simply out of luck or not re responsibility for child support? ---
**Author:** ![LinusK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@LinusK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LinusK)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-married-mans-wife-delivers-a-child-that-is-not-his-can-he-contest-responsibility-for-cs/632765/2 "2012-08-27T00:21:11Z")
The law varies from state to state. In my state, a presumed father may contest paternity, but only if he does so before the child turns four. ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-married-mans-wife-delivers-a-child-that-is-not-his-can-he-contest-responsibility-for-cs/632765/3 "2012-08-27T00:54:35Z")
I believe that in the state of Michigan in the US the answer is “no”. At least that’s how I was told it played out in the case of a somewhat distant relative of mine. (My relative was the one who got the married lady pregnant. tHe and the lady wanted to get married, but she had to get divorced first. Her current husband wanted cash before he would go through with the divorce until his lawyer explained to him that if his wife gave birth while they were still married, according to Michigan law he would be the legal father and responsible for child support until the child was eighteen. The husband promptly signed the divorce papers. At least that’s what I was told.) ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-married-mans-wife-delivers-a-child-that-is-not-his-can-he-contest-responsibility-for-cs/632765/4 "2012-08-27T01:46:24Z")
[need answer fast] ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-married-mans-wife-delivers-a-child-that-is-not-his-can-he-contest-responsibility-for-cs/632765/5 "2012-08-27T03:03:09Z")
It will vary by state, but my understanding is that in most places you have a window period where you can contest paternity. But if you spend years acting as someone’s father, you develop legal responsibilities regardless of your genetic relationship. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-married-mans-wife-delivers-a-child-that-is-not-his-can-he-contest-responsibility-for-cs/632765/6 "2012-08-27T04:49:56Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > It will vary by state, but my understanding is that in most places you have a window period where you can contest paternity. But if you spend years acting as someone’s father, you develop legal responsibilities regardless of your genetic relationship. Yes, in Canada if you “act in the role of parent”, this relationship once established cannot be broken. You then pay child support whether the child is yours or not. I have read many cases on some web site, mentioning that you can’t pull the “it’s not my child” routine after a certain time. California had a particularly nasty law (not sure if it’s still there). If the woman alleged paternity, they served papers. If you did not respond, and did not contest within 2 years, then you were on the hook for child support including back child support that you may not be aware of. Even a negative DNA test could not reverse this default ruling. Apparently, the government group responsible for filing cases and serving papers allegedly did not make a great effort to find the alleged responsible party. Quite a few reported papers were served to the wrong address, based on an old license address, not the new on. One fellow, when the papers arrived his new girlfriend was mad and tore them up and trashed them without telling him. Even though the mother’s alleged timing was off by 6 months and DNA proved her wrong, he was still stuck. He’d been served, he never showed up. (To be fair, this law went back to the days before DNA). Many states, if you are judged the parent in one state, you cannot contest the ruling or award in a different state. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-married-mans-wife-delivers-a-child-that-is-not-his-can-he-contest-responsibility-for-cs/632765/7 "2012-08-27T05:16:48Z")
A womans husband, at common law was always presumed to be the father and even today in most jurisdictions procedurally it will be difficult to get off the hook. Presuming there was no separation. ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-married-mans-wife-delivers-a-child-that-is-not-his-can-he-contest-responsibility-for-cs/632765/8 "2012-08-27T05:30:01Z")
[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/magazine/22Paternity-t.html?pagewanted=all](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/magazine/22Paternity-t.html?pagewanted=all) > [@](#): > > Once a man has been deemed a father, either because of marriage or because he has acknowledged paternity (by agreeing to be on the birth certificate, say, or paying child support), most state courts say he cannot then abandon that child — no matter what a DNA test subsequently reveals. In Pennsylvania and many other states, the only way a nonbiological father can rebut his legal status as father is if he can prove he was tricked into the role — a showing of fraud — and can demonstrate that upon learning the truth, he immediately stopped acting as the child’s father. In 2003, a Pennsylvania appellate court bluntly applauded William Doran — who had been by all accounts a loving father to his 11-year-old son — for cutting off ties with the boy once DNA showed they were not related. The judges found that Doran had been tricked by his former wife into believing he was the father of their son, and he was allowed to abandon all paternal obligations. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-married-mans-wife-delivers-a-child-that-is-not-his-can-he-contest-responsibility-for-cs/632765/9 "2012-08-27T08:33:15Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Per the OP if a married woman conceives a child as the result of an affair, and the husband learns the child is not his while she is still pregnant, can he contest financial responsibility for the child? > > In other words if the child is born while they are married is he simply out of luck or not re responsibility for child support? In California, up to three years by statute. I was sitting in court waiting for the judge to finalize my divorce and a guy did a genetic test on “his” 8 year old child proving it wasn’t his and the Judge ruled “too fucking bad. After three years you are responsible for CS no matter what.” \ Yes I did have my child tested at 2 years of age to see if hee was mine. He’s 13. I wish it had been negative. ---
**Author:** ![listedmia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e0b2c6/32.png) [@listedmia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/listedmia)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-married-mans-wife-delivers-a-child-that-is-not-his-can-he-contest-responsibility-for-cs/632765/10 "2012-08-27T08:38:35Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > In California, up to three years by statute. I was sitting in court waiting for the judge to finalize my divorce and a guy did a genetic test on “his” 8 year old child proving it wasn’t his and the Judge ruled “too fucking bad. After three years you are responsible for CS no matter what.” \ > > Yes I did have my child tested at 2 years of age to see if hee was mine. He’s 13. I wish it had been negative. Wow, that last line is fucking depressing. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-married-mans-wife-delivers-a-child-that-is-not-his-can-he-contest-responsibility-for-cs/632765/11 "2012-08-27T10:03:16Z")
> [@listedmia](#): > > Wow, that last line is fucking depressing. Meh. He was being a real jerk (teenager) today ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-married-mans-wife-delivers-a-child-that-is-not-his-can-he-contest-responsibility-for-cs/632765/12 "2012-08-27T12:59:20Z")
Followup question: In states where the husband is required to pay CS despite not being the bio dad, what happens if another man is proven by DNA to be the biological father? Do they split responsibility for the child? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-married-mans-wife-delivers-a-child-that-is-not-his-can-he-contest-responsibility-for-cs/632765/13 "2012-08-27T13:14:36Z")
I’ve never heard of that happening. There’s only one legal father. The biological father is off the hook at that point. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-married-mans-wife-delivers-a-child-that-is-not-his-can-he-contest-responsibility-for-cs/632765/14 "2012-08-27T13:57:52Z")
> [@Sudden\_Kestrel](#): > > Followup question: In states where the husband is required to pay CS despite not being the bio dad, what happens if another man is proven by DNA to be the biological father? Do they split responsibility for the child? That’s adresssed in the link provided by **Belowjob**. Some guy got a ruling making the biological father (at the time married with the mother and raising the kid) responsible for part of CS, but following an appeal by the mother, this was overturned (because it would have implied that the kid had two fathers, as far as I understand what the journalist understood). ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-married-mans-wife-delivers-a-child-that-is-not-his-can-he-contest-responsibility-for-cs/632765/15 "2012-08-27T17:12:03Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > That’s adresssed in the link provided by **Belowjob**. Some guy got a ruling making the biological father (at the time married with the mother and raising the kid) responsible for part of CS, but following an appeal by the mother, this was overturned (because it would have implied that the kid had two fathers, as far as I understand what the journalist understood). Ah, I see. I habitually avoid NY Times links, though I understand they’ll let me read a few articles free now.