The Michigan Senate held hearings in September on proposed legislation that would allow men to stop paying child support if they DNA tests show they are not the father of the child in question. In Michigan, as in other states, cases are cropping up of men who are forced to pay support for children whom they did not father. The Michigan House has already approved four bills related to this and the Senate takes it up next.
A Detroit Free Press story featured some interesting quotes from John Ruff, a Michigan man who is forced to pay child support even though DNA tests show he is not the father. Ruff’s comments highlight one of the main problems with the current law — it is designed to encourage fathers to admit paternity, but in light of DNA testing the best option is now to deny paternity until it is proven by a DNA test. Ruff told the Free Press,
I hate to say it, but the whole part where I went wrong was the part where I tried to stand up and be a man and take responsibility for what I thought was my daughter. I should have been a jerk and tried to protest what she was saying.
When my second child was born a couple weeks ago, I happened to overhear a couple nurses in the hall who were rather disgusted that a man whose girlfriend had just given birth had chosen to not admit paternity. But in Michigan, admitting paternity after the birth of a child essentially waives any future right to dispute paternity. So the choice is either to go ahead and admit paternity once and for all or, as Ruff puts it, “be a jerk” and demand a DNA test.
Ultimately, I suspect the only adequate long-term solution to this problem will be to require DNA tests of men listed on birth certificates to prove paternity.
Source:
Not the dad? Pay anyway Wendy Wendland-Bowyer, The Detroit Free Press, September 16, 2002.