New
American Bar Association Article Points to
Crisis in False Paternity Judgements
By Mike McCormick and Glenn Sacks
© 2006
Child support enforcement programs
are supported by all sides of the political spectrum, from women’s
advocates on the left to traditionalists on the right. While this
popularity is sometimes understandable, it has also allowed glaring
and inexcusable abuses to fester and grow. Of these, none is more
egregious than when men are forced to pay 18 years of child support
for children who are not theirs, and who in many cases they’ve never
even met.
In “The Innocent Third Party: Victims
of Paternity Fraud,” a new article in the American Bar Association's
Family Law Quarterly, Washington DC attorney Ronald K. Henry details
how this problem developed, and proposes some common sense
solutions. The problem is relatively new, and stems in large part
from the federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of
1996, which restructured the welfare system.
The Act mandates that a mother
seeking welfare benefits for her child must provide the name of the
child’s father so the state can recoup its costs by securing a child
support order.
According to an Urban Institute
study, most of the men targeted are low-income and uneducated, and
the court pleadings in these child support cases are unnecessarily
complex. Many men are left confused or doubtful about the
seriousness of the proceedings. Moreover, substitute service, where
the court summons is often left at an erroneous last known address,
is frequently used instead of personal service. When the putative
father does not appear at his hearing, a default paternity judgment
is entered against him.
A federal report shows that in many
child support enforcement offices, half or more of the paternity
judgments are entered by default. Of the 250,000 paternity judgments
ordered in California each year, more than two-thirds are entered by
default. Even when men obtain DNA tests clearing them of paternity,
most courts rarely set aside these judgments.
The men who do receive the summonses
and appear in court still face a stacked deck. Henry explains:
“The paternity fraud victim is
hustled through the formality, often in less than five minutes, and
may not even realize what has happened until the first garnishment
of his paycheck. The State’s direct financial incentive is to
establish paternity regardless of actual paternity facts. In welfare
cases, there is almost always only one attorney in the courtroom and
that attorney is not representing the paternity target.”
State child support collection
efforts are heavily subsidized by federal dollars. Therefore, Henry
asserts, the federal government could greatly reduce the problem of
false paternity establishments by reimbursing states only for
establishments which are confirmed by DNA tests. States could
purchase bulk DNA tests at a cost per unit considerably less than
even one month of child support.
States should also act to reduce
default judgments by improving service of process and by making the
procedure more understandable for litigants, few of whom have legal
representation. In default judgment cases, DNA testing should be
required as soon as the child support enforcement agency locates the
putative father. And states should pass laws or institute policies
which allow fallacious paternity judgments to be retroactively
challenged.
Because of the indifference of both the states’ child support
enforcement systems and their federal funders, no firm figures exist
on how many men have been mistakenly defaulted into fatherhood.
Henry estimates that the number could exceed one million.
Child support debtors receive little
public sympathy, at times with reason. Yet the victims of false
paternity judgments aren’t men trying to evade their legitimate
responsibilities, nor are they Nicholas Barthas determined to ensure
that their exes will never get a penny. They are instead victims of
one of the most indefensible civil rights violations in America
today--an injustice which cries out for redress.
Mike McCormick is the Executive Director of the American Coalition
for Fathers and Children, the world’s largest shared parenting
organization. Their website is
www.acfc.org.
Glenn Sacks' columns on men's and fathers' issues have appeared in
dozens of America's largest newspapers. Glenn can be reached via his
website at www.GlennSacks.com or via email at
Glenn@GlennSacks.com.
Glenn Sacks'
columns on men's and fathers' issues have appeared in dozens of
America's largest newspapers. Glenn can be reached via his website
at
www.GlennSacks.com or via email at
Glenn@GlennSacks.com.
Copyright 2006 Glenn
Sacks, all rights reserved
