Not the Dad- Discuss

[futuredust]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? GA

Childless man freed after serving time for child support violations - CNN.com

I was just reading this and wonder how this could happen.

Yes he signed an agreement with child support to make payments, when he believed the child to be his. Wouldn't the fact that via DNA it was proven this was not his child relieve him of that obligation, past present and future?

For 13 years, Hatley made payments to the state until learning, in 2000, that the boy might not be his biological son. A DNA test that year confirmed that there was no chance he was the father, according to court documents.

Hatley returned to court and was relieved of any future child support reimbursement but was ordered to pay more than $16,000 that he had owed the state before the ruling.

Latesha Bradley, an attorney who represented Hatley in that hearing, told CNN the argument for keeping Hatley liable for the back payments was that he had signed a consent agreement with the office of child support services. The court agreed that Hatley had to comply with the consent agreement for the period that he believed the boy was his son.

Court documents show that Hatley for the most part continued to make payments. He was jailed for six months in 2006 for falling behind on payments during a period of unemployment, but afterward he resumed making payments and continued to do so even after he lost another job in 2008 and became homeless, court records state.

Last year, he again became unable to maintain the payments and was once again jailed.

 

[Ohiogal]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? GA

Childless man freed after serving time for child support violations - CNN.com

I was just reading this and wonder how this could happen.

Yes he signed an agreement with child support to make payments, when he believed the child to be his. Wouldn't the fact that via DNA it was proven this was not his child relieve him of that obligation, past present and future?

Nope. Because he was legal daddy. HE voluntarily became legal daddy. He was lucky they allowed him to disestablish paternity when the child was 13.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? GA

Childless man freed after serving time for child support violations - CNN.com

I was just reading this and wonder how this could happen.

Yes he signed an agreement with child support to make payments, when he believed the child to be his. Wouldn't the fact that via DNA it was proven this was not his child relieve him of that obligation, past present and future?

Actually, I am a little surprised that they relieved him from ongoing payments after 13 years. Usually when someone is found to be "legal dad" which was apparently the case here, then they don't let them off the hook after 13 years.

However...from a pure standpoint of fairness, after all this guy has been through regarding the CS...yes, I do believe that he should have been completely let off the hook.

It would be an interesting case to take to the appellate level...but unless there is an appellate attorney willing to take it pro bono, to set precedent, he probably cannot afford that.

 

[futuredust]

Even after the finding he did continue to pay until he became unemployed, but then still paid some out of his unemployment check. Then once he became employed again he started paying again.

Then after losing his job yet again he stopped paying and was jailed.

He was in no way trying to get out of it, that I read anywhere. But he sat in jail for a year before he was let out because some organization came to bat for him.

I may have misread it, but it appears that the back support is repayment to the state since the child was on welfare. I wonder if the state had not been involved if the outcome would have been the same.

Interesting story.

 

[truebluemd]

so does that mean, even if MJ is proven not to be the biological dad, with no legal adoption of the kids, he will still be recognized by the court as the legal dad?

 

[Ohiogal]

so does that mean, even if MJ is proven not to be the biological dad, with no legal adoption of the kids, he will still be recognized by the court as the legal dad?

He was the legal father of the oldest two. HE was MARRIED to the mother of the children when the oldest two were born. As for the youngest no details have been released. And even if no adoption happened he was recognized legally as the children's father.

 

[truebluemd]

And Debbie's chances of getting full custody of the two? Nil right, I mean, I expect her to get some king of parenting rights since its been said she never gave up her rights, but she hastn been involved in their lives for i-dont-know-how-many-years, and she has voluntarily stayed out of their lives up until now. Those kids entire lives are with MJs family

 

[Ohiogal]

And Debbie's chances of getting full custody of the two? Nil right, I mean, I expect her to get some king of parenting rights since its been said she never gave up her rights, but she hastn been involved in their lives for i-dont-know-how-many-years, and she has voluntarily stayed out of their lives up until now. Those kids entire lives are with MJs family

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Not nil. She has had a relationship with them and has seen them frequently though not every other weekend. She is the mother of the oldest two. She has 50/50 shot of getting custody of all three. She was NOT OUT of their lives until now.

 

[futuredust]

If she wanted them I think she could have them.

They are supposed to be in some kind of discussions, whatever that means.

From what I have read MJ didn't have the kids around his family a lot either.

I feel so bad for these children, to me it just seems like who ever ends up with them is going to exploit them in some way or another. While he was odd, and his parenting methods were different, he did seem to truly love his children.

 

[truebluemd]

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Not nil. She has had a relationship with them and has seen them frequently though not every other weekend. She is the mother of the oldest two. She has 50/50 shot of getting custody of all three. She was NOT OUT of their lives until now.

Ok, my bad, I wasnt aware of that. I do hope they can work things out and settle out of court. I'd hate to see the media all over this.

 

[truebluemd]

ok so getting back on topic, this guy was still responsible for the CS he didnt pay (state aid) because he wasnt doing what he was supposed to do under the presumption he "thought" he was dad because the woman told him and he accepted it. So who's to blame, mom for pointing the finger at him, or legal dad for not being smart enough to get a dna test.

 

[Ohiogal]

ok so getting back on topic, this guy was still responsible for the CS he didnt pay (state aid) because he wasnt doing what he was supposed to do under the presumption he "thought" he was dad because the woman told him and he accepted it. So who's to blame, mom for pointing the finger at him, or legal dad for not being smart enough to get a dna test.

Legal dad. He could have had a paternity test done even though mom pointed the finger. Dad knew HE slept with her. He should have had the test before 13 years elapsed. My question is why did it take 13 years -- what triggered the test then?

 

[BL]

Legal dad. He could have had a paternity test done even though mom pointed the finger. Dad knew HE slept with her. He should have had the test before 13 years elapsed. My question is why did it take 13 years -- what triggered the test then?

Most likely being jailed the first time.

Morrison told Hatley that the child was his, but the couple ended their relationship shortly after the boy's birth, according to court documents. The couple never married and never lived together, the documents state.

When the boy turned 2, Morrison applied for public support for her son. Under Georgia law, the state can go after the non-custodial parent to recoup the assistance.

This is a good example why ALL non custodial parent's should request DNA ,when an action is brought against them ,even IF they truly believe the child is theirs.

Unless of course they except parantage and want the parent/child relationship no matter what,and are willing to pay the CS.

 

[gemeye73]

Not sure why he waited 13 years...ALL fathers should get a DNA test done AT the hospital.

In 2002, the law changed to where if it was found that a father was not the biological father, the court shall grant relief of child support, past due and present, as long as he didn't, while knowing he was not the bio-dad, adopt the child, acknowledged paternity, named as father on b.c., orvoluntarily agreed to pay child support.

He also loses custody and visitation rights.

The father has to challenge the child support within 90 days of finding out that the child is not his.

There was a similiar case by Carnell Smith whose case went to the US Supreme Court. They refused to hear the case, but GA did revise their law in 2002.

For Hatley, he is probably going to be S.O.L.

 

[Gracie3787]

ok so getting back on topic, this guy was still responsible for the CS he didnt pay (state aid) because he wasnt doing what he was supposed to do under the presumption he "thought" he was dad because the woman told him and he accepted it. So who's to blame, mom for pointing the finger at him, or legal dad for not being smart enough to get a dna test.

Actually, the blame lies squarely with the CSE agency and thier workers. BTW- through some friends I have alot of knowledge about this particular case.

When he was first notified about the CS, he was NOT informed by the CSE that he had the right to deny paternity and request a DNA test. He was only told that he had a child, that child's mother had collected assistance and that he HAD to pay CS. He was also told that he could make things easy on himself and just agree to an administrative order, or pay all court costs to go to court. Naturally, when it is put to someone that way and they have no legal knowledge at all with very little income, they get scared and just agree due to thier fears of going to court. This is why he signed an agreement.

In addition to not being told that he had rights to request a DNA, as in almost all cases, he was also never told that he could file for a modification if he were involuntarily unemployed, hence his being jailed twice for "contempt".

Although he was finally relieved of the duty to pay future support, the Judge that sent him to jail last year (where he's been for 1 YEAR) made a finding of contempt based soley on the caseworker's testimony, she claimed that he had told her that he would NOT pay anymore. The fact that he was involuntarily unemployed was totally ignored by the Judge. That is the reason that he was released now because after 1 year it finally went for a rehearing in front of a different Judge who saw the reality that he was not actually in contempt since his non payment was not willful due to being involuntarily unemployed.

He should be relieved of all arrears due to how things were done, but he never will be for 2 reasons- 1. He has yet to find a pro-bone attorney and cannot affoprd one, and 2- it would be a cold day in hell before any CSE worker in GA were to ever admit that they were wrong.
Like my frind said, all we can do is to pray for this poor guy and hope that some attorney comes forward who sees what an injustice this has been.