Boyfriend gets the Guy's Wife and His Money

  The New York Times printed in their magazine last Sunday, an article on men who are deceived into believing that children are their biological children and later find out that they aren't.  The Times Magazine went through in excruciating detail what happens when a woman cheats and has a child of her imposter boyfriend while shes married then divorces her husband and marries the boyfriend.  The woman's ex-husband ended up paying child support for the cheating boyfriend (now husband and Daddy) ended up getting subsidized by the "innocent" ex-husband's child support to his (non-biological) daughter.  The Times paints the picture of the ex-husband as monumentally unfair.  The Courts have held that its better to have someone be the father than no one.  If the Court didn't hold someone responsible then the state welfare system would have to pick up the dime.  The case that was cited was extreme and the details made it sound horrendous.  I would agree that the result in that case seems outrageous (cheating boyfriend wins out overall) but it certainly isn't absurd on the whole.   It has been estimated that up to 30% of men pay child support for children who aren't biologically theirs.  If you sign the birth certificate or are married to the mother when the child is born, the Court ASSUMES you are the father.  Strange but true and might I add... EXPENSIVE whether you fight it or not. NY Times Article