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Florida Man Ordered to Pay $10K in Child Support Even Though He's NOT the Father

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by hotballa, Jul 12, 2007.

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hotballa Contributing Member

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http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/11/paternity.cases/index.html

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (CNN) -- Francisco Rodriguez owes more than $10,000 in back child support payments in a paternity case involving a 15-year-old girl who, according to DNA results and the girl's mother, is not his daughter.
art.rodriguez.wsvn.jpg

Francisco Rodriguez is fighting for leniency in his paternity case. "It's not right. I'm not the father, " he said.

Rodriguez, who is married with two daughters and a son from his wife's previous marriage, is fighting for leniency. "It's not right. I'm not the father, " he said at a recent court hearing.

He says he knew nothing about the other girl until paperwork showed up about four years ago saying he was the father.

He now has DNA results that show the 15-year-old girl wasn't fathered by him. He even has an affidavit from the girl's mother -- a former girlfriend from 1990 -- saying he's "not the father" and asking that Rodriguez no longer be required to pay child support.

Yet the state of Florida is continuing to push him to pay $305 a month to support the girl, as well as the more than $10,000 already owed. He spent a night in jail because of his delinquent payments.

Why is he in such a bind?

He missed the deadline to legally contest paternity. That's because, he says, the paperwork didn't reach him until after the deadline had passed. Video Watch Rodriguez plead in court for a break »

"It's like you're drowning every day," says Rodriguez, a massage therapist.

Rodriguez's case highlights the legal dilemma states face over how to handle paternity cases. More than a third of children born in the United States are born to unmarried parents, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

But paternity laws vary from state to state, according to the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), a nonprofit organization that works to improve the lives of low-income families.

Some states have detailed laws to challenge paternity within deadlines, while others offer little guidance. In most cases, men have 60 days to challenge paternity, according to CLASP.

After that, it can be "challenged only on the basis of fraud, duress or material mistake of fact," CLASP said last year in an update to a report on paternity law.

"There are no perfect answers," says Susan Paikin of the Center for Support of Families in Delaware. "Deadlines are imposed so that when families are broken -- the legal process is handled quickly."

She says state legislatures and courts struggle with paternity cases, trying to strike the proper balance between children's rights and adults' rights, always keeping in mind any potential harm to the child.

"This is a struggle. It's not something easy for courts or legislatures," she says.

Paikin says it's especially tricky in cases where a father has raised a child thinking it was his, only to learn years later the child had a different father.

"Most men who have a relationship with their child don't think of their child in terms of DNA," she said. "The real issue in most of these cases is anger and money."

Tampa Police officer Michael Anderson understands that sentiment. He paid child support for more than 12 years -- a total outlay he says amounted to more than $80,000. But a DNA test after he and his wife divorced showed the daughter he thought was his was somebody else's.

He then separated himself and his feelings from the child.

"I stopped having a relationship with the girl right from the beginning, when I found out," he said. "It was hard, but I had to do it."

A Tampa court earlier this year disestablished him as father and relieved him of his future child support payments. But by law, he is unable to get back the $80,000 he already paid.

Carnell Smith, who founded a group called U.S. Citizens Against Paternity Fraud, wants mandatory DNA tests when a child is born to avoid legal wrangling and anguish.

"Unfortunately, today it's not a crime for someone to lie about which man is the father," Smith said. "The mother doesn't have to return the money and rarely, if ever, is she prosecuted for perjury, for fraud."

Rodriguez's odyssey began in 1990, when he says at age 16 he had a four- to five-month relationship with a woman CNN is not identifying. He says when the relationship ended, he did not hear from her again until child support papers arrived at his home in 2003.

"My wife and I both had a confused look, and we're wondering, 'Where is the DNA test?' " he says.

But it was long past Florida's deadline to contest paternity. A court had already named him the father three years before when he did not respond to notices to appear, notices he says he never received because he had moved a lot.

He was now on the hook for monthly child support, as well as $10,623 in back child support.

He eventually paid for DNA testing. The test showed he was not the father.

A judge has now ordered a court-sanctioned DNA test for Rodriguez and the 15-year-old girl. Rodriguez has taken that test; the girl and her mother did not show up for their appointment to submit to DNA testing and it's unclear if the girl has complied.

CNN has repeatedly tried to contact the mother, but has been unable to reach her.
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Rodriguez and his family continue to wait for answers.

"It's hard when your daughter needs sneakers and you have to pay $305 or your husband goes to jail," said Rodriguez's wife, Michele. "It's just unfair."
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#1 hotballa, Jul 12, 2007

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why is this surprising
In child support issue. . . they wanna pin it on a man . .and any man will do
then they wanna rake him over the coals

Rocket River

#2 Rocket River, Jul 12, 2007
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^Who are 'they'? The men who write the laws?

It's an f'ed up situation.

#3 Invisible Fan, Jul 12, 2007
Mr. Clutch Member

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Invisible Fan said:

^Who are 'they'? .
Click to expand...

THE WOMEN.

#4 Mr. Clutch, Jul 12, 2007
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Mr. Rodriguez, you are............NOT the father!!

#5 A-Train, Jul 12, 2007
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How do you think they pay for this war? Tax payer money? lol j/k

#6 tested911, Jul 12, 2007
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Rocket River said:

why is this surprising
In child support issue. . . they wanna pin it on a man . .and any man will do
then they wanna rake him over the coals
Click to expand...

The woman's not asking for the money:

He now has DNA results that show the 15-year-old girl wasn't fathered by him. He even has an affidavit from the girl's mother -- a former girlfriend from 1990 -- saying he's "not the father" and asking that Rodriguez no longer be required to pay child support.

#7 Major, Jul 12, 2007

rrj_gamz Member

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Major said:

The woman's not asking for the money:

He now has DNA results that show the 15-year-old girl wasn't fathered by him. He even has an affidavit from the girl's mother -- a former girlfriend from 1990 -- saying he's "not the father" and asking that Rodriguez no longer be required to pay child support.

Click to expand...

No but the court is...They are there to "protect" the interest of the child and they dont care who pays, as long as someone does...

Total and complete BS!!!

#8 rrj_gamz, Jul 12, 2007
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Major said:

The woman's not asking for the money:

He now has DNA results that show the 15-year-old girl wasn't fathered by him. He even has an affidavit from the girl's mother -- a former girlfriend from 1990 -- saying he's "not the father" and asking that Rodriguez no longer be required to pay child support.

Click to expand...

It doesn't matter. Every man is satan and every woman is mother Teresa in family court.

I'm not surprised. Family is is majorly screwed up!!!

#9 Falcons Talon, Jul 12, 2007
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So, after not paying 10K for the child, I assume the kid has had a terrible existence with the absence of that money....oh wait...

I've always had an issue with how much "support" is needed, and deserved. If you've got a man with a lot of money, how does that justify that the child (....actually, the mother, admit it), deserves so much more than a lower income child?
That sets the stage for women to "produce a paycheck". Sucks.

#10 TECH, Jul 12, 2007
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It's like spinning a "bankrupt" in Wheel of Fortune...

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HMa8uku8b2s"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HMa8uku8b2s" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

#11 kwik_e_mart, Jul 12, 2007
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rrj_gamz said:

No but the court is...They are there to "protect" the interest of the child and they dont care who pays, as long as someone does...

Total and complete BS!!!
Click to expand...

Yes it is the government
they basically get an attitude of ANYONE BUT US
and they basically just got a general sh*tty attitude oevr all

Rocket River

#12 Rocket River, Jul 12, 2007
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The guy should feel lucky, he got off light. I pay 10k in child support in 6 months. Sissy.

Our family law system is the biggest crock of **** ever. If this happened to me, I'd end up in jail because I'd be the biggest ******* anyone has ever seen. I know that's difficult to believe but yes, I, on occasion, can be an *******.

#13 Master Baiter, Jul 13, 2007

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Master Baiter said:

I, on occasion, can be an *******.
Click to expand...

Sig worthy?

#14 rhadamanthus, Jul 13, 2007
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Master Baiter said:

The guy should feel lucky, he got off light. I pay 10k in child support in 6 months. Sissy.

Our family law system is the biggest crock of **** ever. If this happened to me, I'd end up in jail because I'd be the biggest ******* anyone has ever seen. I know that's difficult to believe but yes, I, on occasion, can be an *******.
Click to expand...

Preach on brother man...I'm in the same boat...And she continues to ask for more $$$...I told her yesterday that I provide enough for them to live, have fun, eat and sleep, and its not my fault she can't use the money properly and budget accordingly...Yeah, she hung up after that...

On top of that, when I have my kids for the summer, and I'm caring for them, I still have to pay that sh*t...

#15 rrj_gamz, Jul 13, 2007
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Just more BS that some of these Triffling women get away with.

#16 edwardc, Jul 13, 2007
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I have a family member living in Florida, wanting to get married to a woman with not one, not 2, FOUR kids, none of them his. (He's in his early 20's, she in her early 30's) Love conquers all I guess, but then of course the kids' father(s) is in jail.....which, you never know, might mean the courts just go on to the next guy who they feel is competent enough to provide the kids some care...I've already warned him but he better watch out

http://www.falseallegations.com/estop-2.htm

If the child is not your biological child, must you pay child support?

Courts have answered, Yes, and governments have tried to collect with a fervor. See Child Support Enforcement Amendments of 1984, P.L. 98-378, Section 18 as codified at 42 U.S.C. sec. 667. The state cognate is Chapter 460 of the Acts of 1993.

A judge may make you pay child support not because of your legal status but because of your behavior. The judge is following the equitable doctrine of estoppel.

Under that doctrine, the court may hold that because you acted like a parent and permitted the child to rely upon you -- even though you were legally a "stranger" to the child.-- you adopted the biological or "real" parent's duty.

Once a court makes that determination, you the stepparent or friend or lover, the grandparent, or even the deceived husband, may not successfully deny a future obligation of support, because you have voluntarily in the past provided support.

So-called public policies are provided as excuses for requiring the nonbiological parent to pay or continue to pay child support when the relatioinship with the biological mother ends: the need for child support, taxpayers' relief from welfare relief, and the most insulting to a a rationale person: "society's desire to encourage, and not deter, the acts of the future `good samaritan.'"
Click to expand...

Its mostly the court's doing but women to a large degree are still accountable. Its been long my belief that a number of bad women are how they are because of heavy backing by the laws and courts. They don't have to justify anything they do good or bad because they're already protected, and stand to BENEFIT in a lot of ways...just terrible. I really feel for you guys who are going through it

#17 Shroopy2, Jul 14, 2007
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hotballa said:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/11/paternity.cases/index.html

Tampa Police officer Michael Anderson understands that sentiment. He paid child support for more than 12 years -- a total outlay he says amounted to more than $80,000. But a DNA test after he and his wife divorced showed the daughter he thought was his was somebody else's.

He then separated himself and his feelings from the child.

"I stopped having a relationship with the girl right from the beginning, when I found out," he said. "It was hard, but I had to do it."
Click to expand...

For some reason, I was appalled by this. I think its a straight jackass move to suddenly not care for a kid that you have been caring for after all those years. I guess some people have cold blood running through their veins.

But on the other hand, I would be pissed if I had paid 80K due to false pretenses.

#18 Mr. Brightside, Jul 14, 2007

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Mr. Brightside said:

For some reason, I was appalled by this. I think its a straight jackass move to suddenly not care for a kid that you have been caring for after all those years. I guess some people have cold blood running through their veins.

But on the other hand, I would be pissed if I had paid 80K due to false pretenses.
Click to expand...

How Cold Blood is it to let someone think it is their child all this time?
So the reward for lying to someone for years, is to make that someone continue to pay for her lie?
WOW . . . .

This ENCOURAGES women to lie about the paternity of the kid
Knowing that if you can get him to agree for a while .. . . he paying for life

I think people act like men have no feelings and no emotions
I mean . . to find out the child you have cared and loved for years isn't yours
OH WELL . . . SCREW YOUR ANGER, HURT and maybe EMBARRASSMENT
You REALLY don't matter. . only the kid and the mom . . so be a man and take one for the team for the next few years.

I guess if someone continues to do you wrong long enough . .. . you should just allow them to continue to do you wrong?

Rocket River

#19 Rocket River, Jul 14, 2007
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Well, I've got a girlfriend with a 7 year old. Fortunately, she and her ex-husband get along as friends and share custody. As far as I can tell, they also share financial responsibility.

As far as the man in the story goes, that totally sucks, and I would raise hell if I was in his shoes.

#20 RocketMan Tex, Jul 14, 2007

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