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Forced to pay child support for children that are not biologically yours?
I was wathcing a rerun of Dateline NBC last night. There was an interesting story about a man who after divorcing his wife found out that he was not the biological father of three of their four children. He and his wife had already been divorced for quite some time when he discovered this and throughout that time, he had been paying child support. Well, this guy went to court trying to get out of paying child support; he felt that the biological father of the three children should be paying child support for them. He still wanted to be the "father figure;" he just didn't want to pay the monthly child support. Well, the judge decided that since he "played the father figure" to these children while him and his wife were married, and even during the time of divorce when he fought for custody of the children, he is still responsible for paying child support.
What do you all think about the situation? Yes, I do understand that he played the father role; however, his ex-wife never told him that these children were not his, so how was he to know? Out of trust for his wife, he was made to believe that these children were biologically his. He did not "father" these children, was made to believe that they were his, so I do not think that they are *his* responsibility. I do believe that in a way the man is being selfish in not wanting to pay the child support even though in his eyes and in the children's eyes, he is their father.
My vote: He shouldn't have to pay child support.
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