The_RANDy_Corporation
04-26-2001, 12:11 AM
This is one of those stories where lawyers will probably say "yeah, duh", but laymen will be outraged. You gotta press the fight at the time. Not later.
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Mass. Court: Non-Biological Father Must Continue Child Support
By Denise Lavoie Associated Press Writer
Published: Apr 25, 2001
BOSTON (AP) - The state's highest court ruled against a man who tried to stop making child support payments for a 7-year-old girl after a DNA test showed she was not his daughter.
The Supreme Judicial Court said the man had waited too long to challenge his paternity. It was 5 1/2 years from the girl's birth in 1993 to the time he first went to court.
"I think what's critical is the parent-child relationship and the reliance that's occurred over the years in this particular case," said the mother's lawyer, Pauline Quirion.
The man's lawyer, Thomas Conroy, said his client intends to maintain regular visits with the girl but objects to having a court impose mandatory child support payments.
For most of the girl's life, the man she thought was her father made weekly support payments to the girl's mother. The two were not married.
Years later, after the man heard rumors from friends that he was not the father, a fertility specialist told him his low sperm count made it unlikely he could father a child.
Support me by clicking here to read the whole sordid story! (http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAF4P67ZLC.html)
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Mass. Court: Non-Biological Father Must Continue Child Support
By Denise Lavoie Associated Press Writer
Published: Apr 25, 2001
BOSTON (AP) - The state's highest court ruled against a man who tried to stop making child support payments for a 7-year-old girl after a DNA test showed she was not his daughter.
The Supreme Judicial Court said the man had waited too long to challenge his paternity. It was 5 1/2 years from the girl's birth in 1993 to the time he first went to court.
"I think what's critical is the parent-child relationship and the reliance that's occurred over the years in this particular case," said the mother's lawyer, Pauline Quirion.
The man's lawyer, Thomas Conroy, said his client intends to maintain regular visits with the girl but objects to having a court impose mandatory child support payments.
For most of the girl's life, the man she thought was her father made weekly support payments to the girl's mother. The two were not married.
Years later, after the man heard rumors from friends that he was not the father, a fertility specialist told him his low sperm count made it unlikely he could father a child.
Support me by clicking here to read the whole sordid story! (http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAF4P67ZLC.html)