Lawrence KilliumMen already know the justice system is stacked against us when it comes to things like divorce and child custody. One only has to look at the historical data to see that women are unfairly granted child custody about 85% of the time, and receive over 94% of all child support dollars paid.
But even with all the blatant bias and favoritism that the courts show women, you’d at least expect to a court not to force someone to pay child support for a child that isn’t even theirs, right?
Wrong.
A Texas man has been told by a court that he has to pay $65,000 in child support even though DNA tests prove the kid isn’t his.
Cornejo’s ex-girlfriend swore under oath over 10 years ago that he was the father of her child. Strangely enough, he wasn’t served child support papers until just last year, and by then the debt had piled on until it reached almost $65,000.
He protested the papers, saying that he never knew about them and that he had a DNA test last year that proved that he wasn’t the father.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t matter to our criminal justice system. According to the law, he still has to pay.
Cornejo told ABC 13 that the “claim of his responsibility is based on deductions from his paychecks in 2003 for child support. Cornejo and his lawyer suggest there were just three or four deductions for $50 each. He claims he didn’t see them back then — the pay stubs are long gone — and because he didn’t fight them in 2003, Texas law could make him liable for the whole debt now.”
So since he missed a $50 deduction on a paystub or two, he’s on the hook for $65,000? That’s really screwed up.
That’s not the first time we’ve heard about a story like this, however. From WXYZ:
Carnell Alexander says he got a shock during a traffic stop in the early 1990s. The officer arrested him, telling him he is a deadbeat dad.
When he appeared in court Alexander told the judge, he didn’t have any children. The court told him to find the woman.
The court gave him an old address. When he couldn’t find her, he says was told he would have to pay.
So the court is coming to him demanding that he pay support to someone that can’t even be bothered to make themselves contactable? Why is it his fault that she can’t be found?
He later learned that while he was in prison for a crime he committed as a young man, an ex listed him as father on an application for welfare benefits. Notice of the paternity hearing that followed was taken to his old house.
When he didn’t appear for the hearing he didn’t know about, he was made dad by default.
What’s worse was he was having to deal with the fallout of this situation for 26 years.
It’s sad that situations like these are even possible in this day and age. Sadly, until the whole system is reformed, stories like this will no doubt continue to surface.
H/T: ABC 13, WXYZ
