The Courts and Paternity

Maryland’s Court of Special Appeals has ruled that a man must pay child support even though a paternity test proved he is not the father of a child born during his marriage.

Mistake 1:
For nearly 13 years, Darren Kamp said he was the father of the child, even though the girl was born four years after his vasectomy.
Mistake 2:
When Kamp and Vicki Jo Duckworth divorced in 1999, he did not contest the girl’s paternity.

He reversed that position six years later during legal proceedings seeking an increase in child support.

The Court of Special Appeals ruled that a Garrett County Circuit judge should not have approved Kamp’s request for genetic testing without considering the best interests of the child. The higher court concluded that because of the judge’s error “it follows that the court erred in terminating (Kamp’s) child support obligation based on the paternity test results.”

Supporting a child that is not yours is a wonderful thing to do on the surface. You are helping a child you care about. Unfortunately, the legal eagles don’t look at things that way. You have informally adopted the child and claimed dad status. This doesn’t hold up in many states. Apparently, Maryland is different.

All the nice wonderful men have a job to do when the wife they love commits adultery and has a child that is not from the marriage or union. Un-delicately put, it’s time to kick the “ho” with the loose britches to the curb and walk the other way forever. Being a “good boy” in this way is setting up life for a round of useless tragedy. Life is too short.