Hubby is not the father
Dear Mrs Macaulay,
My husband and I have just recently found out through a home DNA test that a woman who had been claiming him to be the father of her two children had lied. The DNA test came back to prove they’re not his children. How does he go about getting his name removed from their birth certificates?
It seems that your husband had for some years believed that he was the father of the two children and as such registered them. But I am not sure that you have sufficient evidence to conclude that the mother of the children lied. Do not get me wrong, she may have, but she could also have been mistaken if she was in a relationship with your husband and someone else.
I am rather concerned that this letter was not written by your husband himself; after all, he is the one who is directly involved. You as his wife, though directly affected, are only indirectly involved. This is only because when the children are with him you possibly assist him with their care. You have also not said how old the children are and you have not indicated how long you have been upset about them.
Anyway, if your husband does indeed wish to have his name removed from the children’s birth certificates, he would have to make an application to the court. In either the Supreme Court or the Family Court, your husband would have to carry the burden of proving what he claims, that is to say, that he is not the father of the children.
In order to prove this to the standard of proof acceptable to a court of law, your husband would have to obtain an order for court-directed DNA tests to be done on him and the two children. The basis of his application, from what you have said, would be that he no longer believes that he is their father and that he was wrongly put on their birth certificates by their mother, who knew otherwise.
You see, the court cannot accept a home-administered DNA test. The court has a list of approved DNA laboratories and would direct that one of them be used by a named/putative father who is questioning his paternity. He will, of course, have to pay for the tests and would be bound to accept whatever the results turn out to be.
I hope that if the tests do in fact prove that he is not the biological father, he would not abruptly cut off all contact with the children. After all, they would not be at fault, but rather they are innocent victims who were told that your husband was their father. And as they were told this, they developed familial relationships with him and he with them.
He should try to save them the trauma of suddenly cutting himself off from them. They must also have the facts sensitively explained to them by him and their mother with the assistance of a counsellor.
You have not stated the children’s ages, but the older they are the more traumatic the situation would be for them if your husband is in fact not their biological father. If, however, the results show that he is their biological father, then you both will have to accept this with good grace and treat the children responsibly and with love and sensitive care.
So your husband should make his application to the court to have his status and relationship with these children sorted out through the results of a court-ordered, properly and professionally conducted DNA test, and from these results the court would make the appropriate orders.
Good luck to you all.
Margarette May Macaulay is an attorneyat- law, Supreme Court mediator, notary public and women’s and children’s rights advocate. Send questions via e-mail to allwoman@jamaicaobserver.com; or write to All Woman, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5. All responses are published. Mrs Macaulay cannot provide personal responses.
DISCLAIMER:
The contents of this article are for informational purposes only and must not be relied upon as an alternative to legal advice from your own attorney.
