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Child support payments given back to duped 'dads' (Read 2189 times)
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Child support payments given back to duped 'dads'
Nov 11th, 2008 at 8:28am
 
At last - some justice !!!!!!!!!!!


"MOTHERS are being forced to pay tens of thousands of dollars to men who paid child support over decades but were wrongly named as fathers.

The payouts follow a contentious reform of child-support laws.

In the biggest case, Queensland man Ken Rodgers obtained orders for the repayment of $60,000 after making child-support contributions for a decade to a woman who refused to send him even a photograph of his alleged child.

The Courier-Mail can reveal that 18 men, cleared of fatherhood by DNA testing, have attempted to reclaim funds already paid to the mothers through the Child Support Agency.

Documents obtained under Freedom of Information show orders for the return of funds totalling $171,567 have been made against mothers.

The money is being garnished from mothers' incomes in the same way that payments are taken from fathers.

In each case, the men were able to use DNA tests to prove in court they were not the father.

The new law, Section 143 of the Child Support (Assessment) Act, requires the Family Court to consider issuing orders for repayment whenever paternity is successfully challenged. It came into effect on January 1 last year.

But not every man who successfully disproves paternity is getting his money back, documents show.

Since July 1, 2006 and October 13, 2008, 344 men have obtained orders cancelling Child Support Agency declarations following DNA tests that proved they were not the fathers of the children in question.

The move to make mothers pay has been attacked by women's groups.

Sole Parents Union president Kathleen Swinbourne said forcing mothers to return child support would hurt the child, both financially and emotionally.

"The money has already been spent on rearing the child," Ms Swinbourne said.

"If the mother is forced to pay back these funds, it's hard to imagine the child won't be disadvantaged.

"Men should raise their doubts about paternity when they are first told they are a father.

"If they raise it later, someone should tell them it's too late," she said.

Solo Mums Australia for Family Equity spokeswoman, Elspeth McInnes, doubted whether women took "a deliberate course" of setting up the wrong man for child support.

"I doubt whether making the mothers pay it all back is going to help," she said.

But Men's Rights Agency director Sue Price said men wrongly named as fathers were entitled to justice.

She said all child-support payments made by a man should be refunded by the Child Support Agency, where paternity was successfully challenged, and then recouped from the woman.

"A woman knows who she's been with in a particular month," she said.

"They must know if there is any doubt about whether the man they are pointing their finger at ... is actually the father."

Ms Price said there should be mandatory DNA testing either at birth or before Child Support Agency orders were made.

Lone Fathers Association Barry Williams said women who identify the wrong man for child support should be held accountable.

The repayments are being made despite a landmark 2006 High Court ruling that stripped a $70,000 compensation payment for pain and suffering to duped father Liam Magill.

In 2000, Mr Magill learned through DNA tests that he was not the father of two of the three children born during his four-year marriage.

But the High Court ruled there was no legal obligation for husbands and wives who cheated on each other to disclose their infidelity.

The court decided disclosure "should be left to the morality of spouses".

The Courier-Mail's series on the legal issues affecting Australian families will continue with a look at claims that allegations of abuse and violence are going unreported to satisfy co-operative parenting laws."


http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24632911-952,00.html

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Push for jail terms for theft of DNA
Reply #1 - Nov 11th, 2008 at 3:15pm
 
not for much longer:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,24633241-2702,00.html

A HUSBAND who suspects he is not the father of his children could be jailed for two years if he steals hair or saliva for DNA testing, under legal changes being proposed by the Rudd Government.

Similarly, a private investigator would not be able to obtain a sample of someone's DNA for testing without their permission.

If adopted, the DNA theft laws would also make it illegal to conduct a genetic test on a sample obtained without consent and to disclose the results of any such test.

The proposed changes to the criminal code are contained in a discussion paper released by Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus yesterday.

However, Mr Debus, who has portfolio responsibility for criminal law within the Attorney-General's Department, said: "The proposed new offences don't interfere with the use of DNA testing by the police or courts or lawful access to private paternity testing by parents and guardians."

The proposed laws would not cover overseas online genetic testing services such as 23andMe and deCODEme.

The Australian Law Reform Commission's David Weisbrot said multinational protocols and strategies -- such as those adopted for child abuse and sex crimes -- must be set up to handle DNA theft laws.

The discussion paper on DNA theft was based on recommendations of the ALRC's 2003 report Essentially Yours: The Protection of Human Genetic Information in Australia, which highlighted the need to tighten laws in response to advances in human genetic technology.

The recommendations were accepted in December 2005 by the Howard government, but not acted on. In 2004, the British Human Tissue Act was amended to make DNA theft a criminal offence. The UN's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation in 2003 adopted the International Declaration on Human Genetic Data.

Professor Weisbrot said that, during the ALRC's public hearings, people were most concerned about the misuse of personal genetic information by insurers, employers, angry spouses and journalists tracking down "famous DNA".

"At the time, there were stories about US president Bill Clinton who had his bodyguards collect a pint glass after he had drunk from it in a British pub," he said.

Professor Weisbrot noted that newspapers also reported a plot by "genetic trophy hunters" to acquire a sample of Prince Harry's DNA.

Central to the new discussion paper is the notion -- detailed in the ALRC report -- that non-consensual genetic testing can cause many types of harm, including physical harm if a person is assaulted in order to obtain a sample.

People can also be harmed emotionally if, for instance, their kinship or identity is questioned.

Men's Rights Agency co-director Sue Price said any decision to criminalise non-consensual genetic testing would be "well over the top".

"I had hoped that this had died a normal death, but it seemsthere are still people looking to prevent DNA testing," Ms Pryce said.

Liam Magill, who was awarded damages of $70,000 in 2001 after DNA paternity testing proved a family friend was the biological father of his two youngest children, agreed.

"The introduction of legislation that looked like this would be a total farce," he said.



I'm not sure why this is an issue in the first place. Surely the onus is on the mother to prove that a man is the father before she can force him to pay child support. Thus the man could get the test done and if it shows the child isn't his, simply deny that the child is his and stop paying child support.
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« Last Edit: Nov 11th, 2008 at 5:34pm by freediver »  

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Re: Child support payments given back to duped 'dads'
Reply #2 - Nov 12th, 2008 at 10:37am
 
I guess this leads the way to all births between non-married parties being subject to dna tested.
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Re: Child support payments given back to duped 'dads'
Reply #3 - Nov 12th, 2008 at 10:45am
 

Maybe should DNA test ALL babies, whether to married or unmarried couples.


Maybe kids of couples who split up and childcare payments are required.

The childcare can be an inducement to split a relatio0nship and as there is some "unhappiness" there already it can be a source of "revenge".

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Re: Child support payments given back to duped 'dads'
Reply #4 - Nov 12th, 2008 at 1:12pm
 
So women take revenge on men by making them support their own children?
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Re: Child support payments given back to duped 'dads'
Reply #5 - Nov 12th, 2008 at 1:57pm
 

F/D - hahhaah, not quite. Like your logic though.

Some women (few) manipulate they system very successfully.
The child maintenance they get is known as champagne money.
The kid gets little of it.
Some women do this sort of thing Quote:
woman who refused to send him even a photograph of his alleged child.
others may move interstate .

Imagine this action, being forced to pay, while the child is not yours.
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Re: Child support payments given back to duped 'dads'
Reply #6 - Nov 12th, 2008 at 2:00pm
 
I'm still trying to figure out what happens if the man declares that the child isn't his. Isn't the onus then on the mother to get the test done and prove it is his?

As for not being allowed to see your own child, if you let a woman walk all over you like that you can't blame anyone else. There are plenty of avenues to pursue.
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Re: Child support payments given back to duped 'dads'
Reply #7 - Nov 12th, 2008 at 2:11pm
 
freediver wrote on Nov 12th, 2008 at 2:00pm:
I'm still trying to figure out what happens if the man declares that the child isn't his. Isn't the onus then on the mother to get the test done and prove it is his?

As for not being allowed to see your own child, if you let a woman walk all over you like that you can't blame anyone else. There are plenty of avenues to pursue.


Yes FD. That's pretty much what I would have thought to be the case.
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Re: Child support payments given back to duped 'dads'
Reply #8 - Nov 12th, 2008 at 2:39pm
 

Normally it is taken for granted it is the mans child.

Assuming the child is already born and the guy has been the childs male parent, he probably won't consider the possibility the child is another mans. She is well aware of that.

Apparently 10% of the time in all couples (married or not) it is not the mans child.


During a seperation it is pretty hard for a man.
We get very little support, advice, consideration or sympathy.
It is really hard going, remember it is a time many guys suicide.

Women have much more support and compassion given to them.  They can and do easily emotionally ruin the guy. Remember, she hates him now.
At this stage, he just wants the pain to stop. He is quite likely not living in his own home, broke and not sleeping.
He is in a very fragile injured state, very easy to "walk over."


As the comments here show, guys get little compassion.

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Re: Child support payments given back to duped 'dads'
Reply #9 - Nov 12th, 2008 at 3:32pm
 
Quote:
During a seperation it is pretty hard for a man.
We get very little support, advice, consideration or sympathy.
It is really hard going, remember it is a time many guys suicide.

Women have much more support and compassion given to them.  They can and do easily emotionally ruin the guy. Remember, she hates him now.
At this stage, he just wants the pain to stop. He is quite likely not living in his own home, broke and not sleeping.
He is in a very fragile injured state, very easy to "walk over."


This is true, but in any seperation - one partner seems to get the raw end of the deal whether it be the husband or the wife.  Males don't seem to get the same sympathy though and women are often stronger at coping with an emotional crisis.

Quote:
I'm still trying to figure out what happens if the man declares that the child isn't his. Isn't the onus then on the mother to get the test done and prove it is his?


Yes - because if you're not married - the child can't go on the birth certificate unless the man agrees and therefore unless a Court orders a DNA test, the father is under no legal obligation to support the child.  Although if the woman applies for benefits - Centrelink will pursue the father in regard to a paternity test.

If you're married - it is just taken for granted that the child is of the marriage and is automatically put on the birth certificate.  

This Ken Rodgers who forked out $60,000 after a drunken one night stand where he wasn't even allowed to see the child must have been gullible and even though he sounds smart enough, he should have had a DNA test.


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Re: Child support payments given back to duped 'dads'
Reply #10 - Nov 12th, 2008 at 3:43pm
 
Quote:
This Ken Rodgers who forked out $60,000 after a drunken one night stand where he wasn't even allowed to see the child must have been gullible and even though he sounds smart enough, he should have had a DNA test.


Except that in the future it will be illegal for him to do so. Of course, it would be easier to just demand proof before paying up.
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Re: Child support payments given back to duped 'dads'
Reply #11 - Nov 13th, 2008 at 10:25am
 
Another case has arisen.


Devastation for dad who finds girl not his after DNA test

"A MAN who believed for nine years that a little girl was his says he is devastated after a blunt text message saying he was not her biological father.

The Hobart man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had sought a DNA test in the hope of maintaining contact with the nine-year-old girl, who lives in the UK with her mother, the Mercury reports.

But last week he received a blunt text message on his mobile phone.

It read: "Got the results. Im sorry. I will sort out the birth cert + there will b no more contact. Sorry."

"I just didn't believe it at first," the man told the paper.

The official papers came soon afterwards.

He came forward after it was revealed this week that mothers are being forced to pay money back to men they wrongly claimed fathered their children.

But this dad said that while he was going to get his money back, "I'd rather have my daughter".

He and the mother of the girl were university students in England when she became pregnant.

"We moved in together and decided to try to make it work," the man said.

"I was there when she was born. She was my responsibility."

Now he feels devastated - and has no chance of seeing her unless he launches a legal battle.

"We're still taking it in. She's still my daughter," said the man, who has since married.

"It never occurred to me I wasn't the biological father."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24645092-12377,00.html



With an unmarried couple, the guy would be happy and proud to sign a birth certificate.
He'ld also 'do the right thing" if the couple break up late. Wanting his child to have a good life.

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Re: Child support payments given back to duped 'dads'
Reply #12 - Nov 13th, 2008 at 10:37am
 
This sort of thing is heartbreaking - not just for the father, but for the child.  It amazes me how selfish and thoughtless some women can be and not take into consideration the damage this does to the child who suddenly loses a father.  Although some fathers couldn't care less either and would just be relieved they didn't have to pay any more maintenance.

Once we become parents - it's our responsibility to put the child before our own wants and a child should be conceived by mutual agreement - although it would diminish the population somewhat.
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Re: Child support payments given back to duped 'dads'
Reply #13 - Nov 13th, 2008 at 2:21pm
 
The definition of a defacto partner has been broadened to make it easier for women to demand support payments from ex boyfriends.

http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1226548533
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