What should be the consequence for paternity fraud?

[HawkPerception]

Imagine a man is married to his wife for 30 years. He raises the kids for 25 and 27 years and then realizes they aren't his kids and the wife never told him. What consequence should the wife have? I can't even fathom the kind of pain a man that goes through that deals with.

[Chazmatazz269]

One year in prison for every year she defrauded him. In cases involving child support payments, she should have to repay every penny with interest and go to jail for nonpayment just like people who don’t pay child support by law do.
The laws surrounding paternity need to be changed drastically. Nearly two thirds of US states have dad by default laws. They vary, but most will hold a man accountable for child support if he was living with or sharing expenses with a woman who has one or more children at the time, even if they were never married and everyone knows fully well that the kids are NOT his. About half of US states have laws against men getting kids’ DNA tested without the mother’s knowledge and consent. It’s essentially ILLEGAL to prove you’ve been defrauded. In every state, it’s easier for a woman to simply claim a man is the father than it is for a father to challenge that claim. Some states let mothers put a fathers name on birth documents without his knowledge and consent. Others accept a simple affidavit as proof. Men typically have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to determine paternity, and they don’t get reimbursed when they prove that they’re not the biological father.
The whole system is wretched. I expect it to get worse before it gets better.

[RavVid]

Saw this before. Devastating that his whole life was broken in this way. No coming back from that.

There was a court case on this in my country by a man who discovered his purported children were unrelated to him. The man was successful in his fraud case up to & including the second highest court. But it was appealed to the High Court (equiv SCOTUS) and the wife won there.

The basic reasoning was that it would be disadvantageous for the unrelated children if the wife had to pay him back. A female judge, who was known to have cheated on her husband, presided over the court case.

Lesson is to get DNA tests as a matter of course. They can be done during gestation now.

[Chazmatazz269]

In the US, about two thirds of states have made it illegal for men to test a child’s DNA without the knowledge and consent of the mother. So that simple solution isn’t quite so simple. Merely mentioning paternity to a woman often invokes an even stronger reaction than mentioning prenuptial agreements. Ell oh ell!

[Kelly6]

@HawkPerception she should pay him as much as he spent to raise the kid.

[HawkPerception]

As much as I agree that should be part of it, I feel there should be more than that. That was a big portion of his life that he could have spent with someone else or focusing on his own career more and lived a very different life. Money matters less the more time has gone by.

[Kelly6]

I agree but some things can’t be done if time passes

[Chazmatazz269]

It’s also very difficult to calculate when they remained together, sharing expenses and such. It’s different for separated parents and child custody & support agreements.

[Kelly6]

@Chazmatazz269 exactly

[Dongie]

It's different for being lied to and tricked. I think about 25 years in the prison will give time for thought and deterrent.

[luvstoned4him]

He needs some compensation. Poor fellow!

[MicahRaine]

Imprisonment and repayment with interest.