Many think that paternity fraud is just a men’s issue, but there are countless women and girls who are negatively affected by this issue. A very close family member of mine is a paternity fraud victim. He was married and his wife was not truthful when she told him that he was the father of her baby. DNA revealed that he was ruled out as the father. Even so, he continues to be aggressively pursued by Child Support Services to support a child that is not his. He has even been jailed which has severely interfered with his prospects for employment.

My daughter and I are also victims of paternity fraud and huge advocates for reform. In 1999, when I was separated from my husband (pending a divorce) I met another man. Months later, I became pregnant with his daughter. Thinking that we were going to become a family my boyfriend (the attorney) hired and paid for an attorney to finalize my divorce. The attorney he hired did not inform me of the two-year law (Civil Code, Section 7540), Presumption of Paternity. Under the law my former husband became responsible for my daughter, instead of the biological father — because I was still legally married. My husband and I were unaware of this law and if we were, we would have taken appropriate and immediate action.

There were two DNA tests performed that prove the attorney is the biological father of my daughter and that my ex-husband is not. The attorney also acknowledged in writing that he is, indeed, my daughter’s father, and originally he did take responsibility for our daughter. He supported his daughter and promised to continue his child support obligations as long as I dropped the case with the Department of Child Support Services. I was willing to handle support issues between us two and not involve DCSS so I did close the case without prejudice on May 16, 2001. If I had known about Civil Code 7540, I would never have dropped the case with DCSS. The attorney continued to make his child support payments until approximately one week before our daughter’s second birthday. He then, called me to inform me that he would no longer be involved with Elise or make anymore child support payments. Unknown to me at the time that was after the statue of limitations for paternity establishment expired.

Even though my ex-husband had been excluded from being the father, on February 10, 2005, a judgment declared him as the biological father and the attorney whose DNA proved was the father, was not. The court adopted the attorney’s argument that the conclusive presumption found in Civil Code 7540 settled the parentage issue even though my ex-husband and daughter were not a party to the proceedings. My ex-husband’s judicial rights were violated, as he was not joined in this action nor was he present at the hearing. On March 14, 2005, a civil action was filed to enforce the child support agreement executed by the attorney in May – 2001. This was action was denied as well. It is my belief that since my daughter’s biological father is a high-profile attorney, he was able to avoid his responsibilities (via a loophole) and use a 500-year-old common law that still exists today. This law allows a biological parent to push their responsibilities to the children they father onto someone else.

I could not allow my ex-husband to support a child that was not his and so I relinquished his rights. As far as the law is concerned, my daughter is fatherless at this point. During the last ten years, my daughter has received no financial support, no medical, dental or vision insurance, and has no claim to any Social Security benefits under her father’s name. For the past thirteen years I have fought this ruling. We have had four trials and are working on our fifth. The attorney has had very little contact with our daughter even though he knows he is her biological father, and that our daughters knows he is her father.

I could not lie to my daughter about who her father is (and I do not condone when others do) even if it means going without any type of support. My daughter should be emotionally and financially supported by her biological father and the laws and courts should stop perpetuating paternity fraud on innocent children. I will not give up, I will not let go, and I will work together with other paternity fraud victims on reform.