Protecting yourself from paternity fraud

Paternity fraud is the act of falsely naming a man to be the biological father of a child, particularly for the purpose of collecting child financial support , by the mother when she knows or suspects that he is not the biological father.

In cases of paternity fraud, there are many potential victims: the defrauded man, the child deprived of a relationship with his/her biological father, the biological father who is deprived of his relationship with his child. Subsidiary victims include the defrauded child's and the men's families. In particular, financial hardship may have resulted for the defrauded man's children and spouse in cases in which the man made child support payments for the unrelated child.
In some jurisdictions in some countries, there is limited opportunity to legally challenge the assumption of paternity.

If you choose to do so you can request DNA tests for you and the children. Expect to pay upward of $400 for the testing, but if you believe a child is not your biological, it's a worthwhile expense. Your goal is to avoid becoming a victim of "Paternity Fraud." Monetary gain is generally the reason that most women lie about the children biolocial parent. Most men will be on the hook for 18 or more years of child support for a child or children who aren't yours. The bad news is that paternity fraud is not uncommon. If the DNA tests show that you're not the father, you need to get a lawyer and challenge paternity. Depending on where you live, you'll typically have six to 24 months to do so. Forbidding men to challenge paternity, especially in the context of marriage, by limiting the amount of time allowed to challenge paternity, or by allowing women to make a claim paternity without adequate chance for rebuttal by the alleged father. Such is the case in state of California U.S.A.. In some jurisdictions, the husband of the mother of a child is held to be the father, regardless of biological relationship. Access to such testing is restricted in some jurisdictions as it is held to not be in the best interests of the child for such information to become available. A man finding out that the child is not his biological child contrary to information supplied by the mother may result in his rejection of the child or mother.

One man received a bill for $75,000 in back child support. That came a quite a surprise, since he didn't think he had any children. He tracked down his ex-girlfriend and his child and got a paternity test, which proved conclusively that he was not the father. But because he hadn't challenged paternity soon enough he was still held responsible for the arrears. In another case, a dad found 18 months after his divorce that the child he'd been paying support for was not his. The mother admitted she lied about the child's paternity, but because the deadline to challenge had passed, dad'll be paying $1,200/month for the next 15 years - more than $200,000! Unfortunately, even challenging paternity within the window doesn't guarantee that you'll avoid being defrauded. In many states, when a child is born during a marriage, the husband is presumed to be the father - biology is irrelevant. So even if DNA shows that he's not the father, he'll still owe child support. Why are the courts making men pay for children who aren't theirs, whom they may never have met or known about or have no legal rights to see? Unfortunately, it's big business. Many states receive government funds for every child support claim they issue, and they may take a percentage of money collected - often to the tune of tens of millions of dollars per year. The big complication here is that you undoubtedly love your son and you may decide that you want to claim him as your own regardless of what a paternity test might show.

Unfortunately this is very common behavior in women. Collectin child support is one thing but collecting child support should be a crime, a felony. This would at least stop women claiming a man is the father and he is not. Then restitution should be paid for all the money that was paid to that woman with interest. That should be the next bill that should pass as law!