Early testing
in these cases will save a lot of heartache, not to mention money,
to all parties in the long run. Whether or not a man is determined
to be the father of a child can be a deciding factor in granting
visitation or if he will have legal access to the child.
Many family law practitioners advise their clients
to get a paternity test at the onset of divorce proceedings. In
certain states in the U.S., it has recently become a crime for
a woman to knowingly tell a man that he is the father of her child
if she knows him not to be. Called "Paternity Fraud",
thousands of men around the country are fighting for their rights
and demanding that they be allowed to stop support payments for
children proven to be fathered by another. Ohio, Texas, Colorado
and several other states have paternity fraud legislation on the
books or in theworks. These states recognize that if a woman knowingly
tells the wrong man he's the father, fraud has been committed.
For this reason, many people are advocating paternity tests at
birth, regardless of marital situation or doubt. Even though DNA
evidence has been used to free falsely convicted murderers, and
individuals unjustly convicted of rape and other crimes, courts
are unhurried to accept it as proof that a man should not have
to pay child support.
Most states have a statute of limitations to determine
paternity. These range from 30 days to 5 years. The usual motivation
for a statute of limitations is the deterioration of quality of
evidence over time. In paternal determination, the blood testing
evidence is not subject to deterioration. This leads some to believe
the real motivation behind this legislature is financial.
The issue of disputed paternity has become big
business with literally hundreds of laboratories on the Internet
offering inexpensive testing worldwide. Some of these labs will
even help mothers prove paternity without the alleged father being
involved. |
