i wouldn't want to pay for something i had no part in creating. i think that if there already isn't an addendum to this law stating that if the husband is not the biological father, then the man who is the biological father should pay, there should be. it's a move towards justice, as opposed to application of a law that may or may not be just. perhaps in those states that do not permit the husband to get out of paying after he finds out the child isn't his, he could sue the biological father for the losses?
I like to think that: 1. if the man knew that the child was not his to begin with, that in marrying the child's mother he understood that he implicitly accepted his responsibility as parent of that child; 2. if the man realised only much later that the child was not his, that the emotional parental bond that he had developed with the child he regarded as his thusfar (and who regarded him as his/her father thusfar) would mean something in terms of the responsibility and love he felt towards it. He might feel betrayed and let down by the child's mother, perhaps, but that shouldn't suddenly switch off years of parent-child bonding. A man who has lived with the child, raised it, cared for it, and acted (and presumably felt) as its father all this time, should have more of a sense of parentage, love and responsibility for it than some other man who suddenly finds out that he has a child somewhere. He cannot cop out of this just because he fell out of love with mommy, and biological paternity is not a get-out-of-jail free card in this.
it's hard to post after nexxo because his arguments are always so well thought out and logical... should the biological father be resposible for the child as well? they can prove who isn't the father, as well as who is. if the man who has been a father isn't willing to pay, then shouldn't the mother get support from the man who is biologically the father? even if the father pays willingly because of the bonds of parenthood, i still think the biological father should be chipping in. i just feel that if you are going to create something you should be responsible for, then you dang well will be responsible for it!
You are absolutely right --the biological dad also has responsibility. The non-biological dad has by assumption of the role, and the biological dad has by creating the child in the first place.
I did write out a big reply to this saying that non-biological father should not be forced to pay for the childs upbringing etc then I thought what would happen if the women was raped and decided to keep the child but couldn't/wouldn't tell the non-biological father. How would you go about dealing with this, I pretty glad I don't have to make such decisions in Law. The other side of the coin is the woman knew from the beginning she was having a baby by another man and passes of thh child as her partners then should she not be charged with fraud?
