DNA testing provides answers — BUT, are you ready to deal with those answers?

Read: Who Knew I Was Not the Father? by Ruth Padawer, published in The New York Times.

See some of my related Blog Posts.

NOTE: Adwokat / Prawnik Pawel Kostro mowi po polsku.

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In the October 2, 2005 issue of The New York Times, there is an article discussing how the truth revealed by a Paternity Test may prove to be painful — however, not knowing may prove to be equally (if not more) painful. For those that are interested, there is a website that claims to be dedicated to: “helping Children and Men discover who’s the biological father, assisting deceived, scammed and hustled paternity fraud victims regain their constitutionally protected freedom and their lawful assets.”

NOTE: My Law Office is located at 726 West Saint Georges [W. St. Georges] Avenue (Route 27), Linden, Union County, NJ. Telephone: 908-486-2200

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An adjudication of paternity may be set aside upon the presentation of “clear and convincing evidence of: fraud . . . with the burden upon the challenger[.]” N.J.S.A. 9:17-41(b).

Any estoppel, including an estoppel to deny paternity, requires some voluntary action. See Miller v. Miller, 97 N.J. 154, 162 (1984) (obligation to support a child who is not biologically related, “arises from a voluntary assumption . . . .”); Monmouth County Division of Social Services v. R.K., 334 N.J. Super. 177, 196 (Ch. Div. 2000) (duty of support imposed on “a party, other than the biological parent, [who] voluntarily accepts paternity”).

A party’s action in consenting to an adjudication of paternity cannot be considered voluntary so as to bar a later repudiation of the consent. Consent given by virtue of fraud is no consent at all. See 26 Williston on Contracts, §69.1, at 486 (4th ed. 2003) (”One . . . fraudulently induced to enter into a contract has not assented to the agreement . . . .” Nor does the party’s later support of the child prohibit him from seeking relief when the true facts become known. Action induced by fraud cannot be deemed “voluntary” in any real sense of the word.

Child support may be ordered to be paid by one who is not biologically related to the child “when the evidence assessed in accordance with the with principles of equity demand that result.” M.H.B. v. H.T.B, 100 N.J. 567, 578 (1985); N.J.S.A. 9:17-53c.

NOTE: My legal services include family law, divorce, child support, child custody and visitation, alimony, equitable distribution, separation agreements, and marital agreements.

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