Bio dad taking mom to court over paternity fraud

Dear Mrs Macaulay,

My daughter was born two months ago, and my current boyfriend signed the papers at the hospital, even though he is not the father. The actual father has now taken out a summons for a declaration of paternity, for us to attend court. What trouble could I, or my boyfriend, get in? I only did what I thought was best for my baby.

No one will agree with you that breaking the law is doing what is best for your baby, and no mother would do and teach their child what is best for them by acting illegally. Why did you not just report that you could not give the father’s name at that time as he had walked away from you and the child when he knew that you were pregnant? You could have, and had the right to just give his name for your child’s birth records. Then later, you could have tried to convince the biological father to man up and go with you, or do a declaration with you identifying himself as the father of your child.

Lots of children in Jamaica have had to deal with not having anything about their fathers in their birth records, or just the father’s name, and some of these fathers later add their names and/or names and their particulars, to their children’s birth records. Or, you could have decided to file for a declaration of paternity and have the law, which is in place and has been for years, act for your child.

All you had to do was go to the Family Court in your parish and ask the clerk for advice about what you could do in such circumstances. All services in the Family Court are free, for goodness sake!

You instead chose to make a false statement in your report of your child’s birth at the hospital to the registrar there. And what is even worse, you convinced your current boyfriend to also make a false report. He clearly agreed to so act in order to please you. You were doubly wrong in doing what you did!

The Registration (Births and Deaths) Act deals with what you did and got your boyfriend to do for you and your baby. First, the Act provides that it is the duty of the father and mother to give the registrar, within 42 days after the birth of their child, information of the particulars which are required about the birth, and to sign such registration form in the presence of the registrar. You see, the biological father also has the legal duty to make such a report. It did not rest with you alone.

The Act also provides that a person who by false information has his name entered in a birth register as the father of a child, can apply to the court to have such an entry removed by a direction to the Registrar General. The court can so act if it decides that it is reasonable to do this. Then the mother would have to take the certificate into the office to be cancelled and a new one prepared without the name and particulars of the person wrongly named.

Then it also provides that any person who wilfully gives the registrar any information which the person knows to be false, shall be guilty of an offence and be liable on summary conviction before a Parish Court judge to pay a fine, or to imprisonment. The maximum fine is $250,000, and/or a maximum term of three months.

“Wilfully” means intentionally or deliberately. So, if the court believes that you acted with intent, or you deliberately did what you did, and your boyfriend also, and takes a very serious view of your actions, the judge may direct that criminal charges be laid against you both, or not.

But the judge may also conclude that hormonally you were not your usual clear-thinking self, and as a very recent mother, erred when you gave the information to the registrar, and that your boyfriend was just being protective of you and your child.

The judge could determine not to place the very onerous legal, financial and other obligations upon your shoulders, and decide just to give you both a very stern talking to, and direct you to hand over your child’s birth certificate to be cancelled, and for the correct name and particulars of your child’s real biological father to be entered for a re-issued birth certificate.

You should explain as best as you both can why you did what you did, and apologise for acting in the way you did. You should go into the Family Court and talk with the clerk and get assistance so that your child’s rights and entitlements from her real father, and a relationship, can be achieved. If there is no time to do this before the hearing date, then do not be afraid to do so in the court and speak directly to the judge, explaining that it is your boyfriend who had been assisting you from then, and to this day.

You should and must therefore apply and ask for all consequential orders to be made for your child’s growth and development, upon the conclusion of the biological father’s application in his favour. This is to say, your baby must have orders made for the father’s maintenance contribution towards his child’s expenses – (including the refund of all the payments which your current boyfriend made, which the father should have for the costs of your medical appointments, your meds, your confinement and delivery and provisions for the child’s necessities). Orders should also be made about his access to his child at reasonable times and based on age of the child and always in the best interests of the child.

I should add that I am not aware of any criminal prosecutions for what you and you boyfriend did, and I understand the provision in the law to be a deterrent and not necessarily to actually penalise a new mother, which would not be in the baby’s best interests for the mother to be sentenced to imprisonment or to a financial penalty, when she has to provide for her newborn child.

All the very best to you and your family.

Margarette May Macaulay is an attorney-at-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