even if they find out the child is not their child? I saw something on Nightline years ago that profiled four men who were ordered to continue paying child support, even though they found out the children weren’t their children.
This isn’t meant to be a debate, I was wondering what law states (if there even is a law) that these men must continue to pay support and also, which States do these laws exist in? I think one of the men lived in Delaware.
I am under the impression that some states have what can be called “implied paternity”, wherein if you treat the child like your own, long enough, you can be liable for the child, just like an actual biological father.
A little while back there was an article in Reason magazine about this happening in California. Apparently there the rule is they have to make an attempt to contact you if someone has said you might be the father, and if you don’t dispute it before a certain deadline, you’re considered responsible for child support even if it’s been shown that you’re not the father and you never even knew the mother. I think they had one guy who was out of the country when the notice came. Apparently it has to do with them not having money to put the people on welfare, so they just take it from some random slob. It’s outrageous, but there you have it.
The case is technically different because in that case, the court only found that there had been no children of the marriage. Dad (who sought the divorce) didn’t know about the baby. The Court held that the court that issued the divorce decree by default had not considered the paternity of the specific child.
Generally, children born during a marriage are presumed to be the husband’s. The presumption is usually rebuttable (I haven’t checked the law of every state on the issue). But some states impose a statute of limitations on such challenges.