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Paternity Fraud and Compensation for Misattributed Paternity Heather Draper

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Paternity Fraud and Compensation for Misattributed Paternity Heather Draper 475 LAW, ETHICS AND MEDICINE J Med Ethics: first published as 10.1136/jme.2005.013268 on 30 July 2007. Downloaded from Paternity fraud and compensation for misattributed paternity Heather Draper ................................................................................................................................... J Med Ethics 2007;33:475–480. doi: 10.1136/jme.2005.013268 Claims for reimbursement of child support, the reversal of pages advertising paternity testing are often situated alongside those offering genetic tests on property settlements and compensation can arise when the bodily fluids to be found on bed sheets and misattributed paternity is discovered. The ethical justifications underwear. Unsurprisingly, the discovery of mis- for such claims seem to be related to the financial cost of attributed paternity often arises in the context of bringing up children, the absence of choice about taking on relationship breakdown: the discovery may insti- gate the breakdown, or paternity tests may be these expenses, the hard work involved in child rearing, the requested after a relationship has collapsed. emotional attachments that are formed with children, the Financial claims may be directed at the mother obligation of women to make truthful claims about paternity, who has knowingly ‘‘passed off’’ the child as one and the deception involved in infidelity. In this paper it is argued thing (genetically related) when he or she is in fact another (the genetic offspring of a different man). that there should not be compensation for infidelity and that But they may also be directed at the mother’s lover reimbursement is appropriate where the claimant has made – the ‘‘other man’’. Here the idea is that this other child support payments but has not taken on the social role of man has not accepted his financial obligations but father. Where the claimant’s behaviour suggests a social view has dishonestly passed these to the cuckolded man, colluding with the mother by keeping silent. of fatherhood, on the other hand, claims for compensation are Alternatively, even where it emerges that he, the less coherent. Where the genetic model of fatherhood other man, knew nothing of the child, it may be dominates, the ‘‘other’’ man (the woman’s lover and progenitor felt that once he knows about his paternity he of the children) might also have a claim for the loss of the ought to want to make financial amends. The discovery of misattributed paternity may or benefits of fatherhood. It is concluded that claims for may not lead to a breakdown of the relationship reimbursement and compensation in cases of misattributed between the man and the children. Some men are paternity produce the same distorted and thin view of what it desperate to be regarded as the father of what they means to be a father that paternity testing assumes, and regard as their children. Other men, on discovering misattributed paternity, sever all links with the http://jme.bmj.com/ underscores a trend that is not in the interests of children. children, disregarding the sometimes considerable ............................................................................. length of time during which they have been in a father–child relationship. Our reactions to these two kinds of responses may reveal underlying laims for reimbursement of child support, tensions in our views about what makes a man a the reversal of property settlements and father and how significant genetic relatedness is to compensation can arise when misattributed determining who holds parental rights and respon- C on September 29, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. paternity is discovered. This is because the cuck- sibilities. olded man, assuming that he is the genetic father, Media coverage of misattributed paternity has has treated the child as his son or daughter and been wide and varied. It ranges from newspaper accordingly has taken upon himself the responsi- coverage of alleged cases, to documentaries featur- bilities and rights of fatherhood, including finan- ing one or more families, to day-time TV shows cial responsibilities. When he discovers that his where alleged victims bare their souls or the assumption is mistaken, he may think that the results of paternity tests are revealed ‘‘live’’ to responsibilities he took up belong to someone else. the parties concerned. Clearly, it is an area where Misattributed paternity is sometimes referred to as emotions run high and accusations of unfairness paternity fraud, a term that suggests that the may be made by all involved. Some campaigning mother (and possibly her lover) knew about the groups have argued for the compulsory paternity ........................ true paternity and deceived the man for financial testing of all children at birth to prevent any cases gain. 12 Correspondence to: of misattributed paternity in the future. This Dr Heather Draper, Centre Misattributed paternity may be discovered inad- paper considers whether men who discover that for Biomedical Ethics, vertently during medical treatment, for instance children they have been fathering are not geneti- Department of Primary when a child is discovered to have some genetic cally related should be entitled to reimbursement Care and General Practice, University of Birmingham, condition or blood groups are identified and/or of money paid or used in child support, and also to Edgbaston, Birmingham tissue matches are required, or it may be uncov- compensation for related losses or injuries. B15 2TT, UK; ered where there are doubts about paternity, for [email protected] instance based on the child’s physical character- istics, or suspicions of infidelity. Outside the Received 21 June 2005 i Accepted 30 August 2005 context of assisted conception, misattributed i This paper will not discuss misattributed paternity in the ........................ paternity is definitive proof of infidelity, and web context of assisted conception. www.jmedethics.com 476 Draper THE BASIS OF CLAIMS FOR COMPENSATION Bill included changes to the law to allow men to reclaim money While there is no typical case of misattributed paternity, some and property given through a court order under the Family Law J Med Ethics: first published as 10.1136/jme.2005.013268 on 30 July 2007. Downloaded from of the elements that seem to justify a claim for reimbursement Act 1975, in cases of misattributed paternity10 11; the Bill was or compensation include: passed in June 2005. In general, in societies where so-called ‘‘absent fathers’’ are N The financial costs of raising children. These can be very legally required to support their children, it is not surprising great both absolutely and relatively. Moreover, fathers (and that men who discover misattributed paternity want to reclaim mothers) with several children or modest incomes may money they have contributed in child support. The target for make personal sacrifices and constrain their life-style choices financial recovery may be the central or state agency charged in order to devote the bulk of their income to providing for with recovering child support, the mother or the mother’s lover their children. (the allegedly true absent father of the children concerned). N Raising children is hard work. Being a good parent takes Potential claims can be broken down into different elements: time and energy. Parents volunteer for this work when they (i) the money that would have been paid in child support – this choose to have children, but if one does this work regularly may be a percentage of salary or a sum fixed by the state; (ii) for someone else’s children it is not unreasonable to expect the actual money paid out by the claimant, which could easily to be paid for it (unless one volunteers to do it without pay). exceed the fixed amount for child support; (iii) compensation N Parents fall in love with their children: they feel deeply, for the work involved in childrearing; and (iv) compensation emotionally engaged with them. When misattributed pater- for the emotional costs, loss of choice, loss of life-style, etc. nity is discovered, the man concerned may be deprived of access to children that he still loves. Alternatively, he may SHOULD CLAIMS FOR COMPENSATION BE feel a great sense of loss, as though he has been deprived of SUCCESSFUL? the genetically related children he thought he had. He may Without knowing more about the nature of their relationship, feel this even if he retains access to the children. or a woman’s reasons for having an affair, it is difficult to assert N The onus is on a woman to tell her partner if she knows, or with confidence that the unfaithful woman has wronged the has any reason to doubt, the genetic relatedness of the deceived man. Likewise, a mother may have had good reasons children to him. All things being equal, it is reasonable for for not telling her partner about the paternity of the children,iii men to suppose that children born within a long-standing making it difficult to argue that on balance she has done the relationship, and perhaps especially a marriage, are children wrong thing in not being truthful even if the truth was owed. of that relationship, unless they are told otherwise. But let us assume for the sake of argument that the man in N A paternity test that reveals misattributed paternity is question is a model partner, even as far as the woman was definitive proof of infidelity. This infidelity may evoke concerned, and that there are no good reasons for deceiving intense feelings of anger, betrayal, hurt, etc. This may lead him. Should not a man who satisfies these assumptions be men to feel that they have been living a lie – even as far as compensated by his partner for the wrong he has suffered at her hands? the children are concerned. We might answer ‘‘Yes’’ as a way of agreeing that things have N The loss of the opportunity to limit the number of non- not gone well for the man, and that he deserves a change for genetically related children being financially supported.
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