A Toronto-area man must continue paying child support of twins that are not his

A Toronto-area man must continue paying child support to his former wife despite DNA tests proving he is not the biological father of her 16-year-old twins, an Ontario Superior Court judge has ruled.


Pasqualino Cornelio will also not recoup any of the child-support money he paid out since the couple separated a decade ago, Justice Katherine van Rensburg wrote in her decision.


In making her recent ruling, the judge referred to a 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision that said if someone acts as a parent and provides support for a child during a marriage, they are obliged to continue that financial support after separation or divorce -- even if the child is not biologically theirs.


"While the failure of Ms. Cornelio to disclose to her husband the fact that she had an extramarital affair and that the twins might not be his biological children may well have been a moral wrong against Mr. Cornelio, it is a wrong that does not afford him a legal remedy to recover child support he has already paid, and that does not permit him to stop paying child support," Judge van Rensburg wrote.


Mr. Cornelio had argued his former spouse, Anciolina Cornelio, provided him with "incomplete and misleading information" that led him to believe he was the biological father of the twins.


He told the court his ex-wife failed to disclose an extramarital affair before the twins' birth, concealing the fact that he may not be their father.


Mr. Cornelio was seeking repayment of the child support he paid out since the couple separated in 1998, or at least from May of 2002, when the pair agreed to joint custody and child support.


But the judge pointed out that Mr. Cornelio knew at the time of separation that his wife had an extramarital affair with someone named Tony, who may have fathered the twins -- but he sought joint custody regardless. He only began pursuing the issue after Ms. Cornelio began seeking increased child-support payments.
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