Nonfather is told to pay

[Mr. Laz]

Posted on Wed, Feb. 14, 2007

MISSOURI CHILD-SUPPORT RULING | Case prompts call for changes

Nonfather is told to pay

Mother agrees that the man is not the biological parent, but state laws are cited in appeals ruling.

By JOE LAMBE
The Kansas City Star

Once again, Missouri judges have ordered a man to pay thousands of dollars in child support for a child he didn’t father.

This time, even the child’s mother agrees that the man is not the father. Yet a state agency says he is, because he was married to the woman when she gave birth.

The state wants David Salazar thrown in jail, and an appeals court on Tuesday agreed.

His lawyer, though, hopes that a higher court will rescue the Buchanan County man and others like him caught in a national issue that pits fairness for men against what is considered best for children.

Many men nationwide get trapped into paying child support because they do not contest paternity before state-set deadlines.

Several states have recently changed laws or are considering changes that would allow men to introduce DNA evidence after the deadlines have passed. A bill pending in the Missouri Senate would allow that here.

Sen. Chris Koster, a Republican from Harrisonville, said he thinks Missouri lawmakers will pass the bill this year.

“There’s an increasing awareness that Missouri law is out of sync with the tools science has provided to determine parentage,” Koster said.

In the case decided Tuesday, David Salazar and his wife agreed that they separated 14 months before she had a baby girl by another man in November 2001.

But they were too poor to pay for a divorce, his attorney said. A hospital clerk ordered the mother to list Salazar as the father on the birth certificate. The Missouri Division of Child Support Enforcement named Salazar the father without DNA testing.

Salazar did not attend a hearing to contest the paternity finding. A Buchanan County judge later found him guilty of not paying $278 a month in child support and sentenced him to 28 days in jail.

Salazar appealed, but lost Tuesday in a 6-5 ruling by the appeals court in Kansas City.

He could not be reached for comment.

In most states, a reputed father has a short time to contest findings that he is a parent. In Missouri and Kansas, that period is one year. Child support usually must be paid until children turn at least 18.

Laura Donaldson, assistant Buchanan County prosecutor, said judges followed a clear legal process designed to financially provide for children.

“When you fail to contest an issue,” she said, “we assume you’re not serious about contesting it.”

Even though the mother, Shannon McClure, told officials that Salazar was not the father, she could have been lying because he threatened her — there was no way of knowing, Donaldson said.

Assistant public defender Merle Turner said she would appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court. Her client never finished high school, could not afford a lawyer or a divorce and could not understand or deal with the administrators, she said.

Chief Judge Victor Howard, writing for the appeals court majority, noted that Salazar did not attend paternity hearings. At trial before a judge in 2004, Salazar admitted he had not paid child support. He was not allowed to give a DNA sample at that point, because by then he was considered the father by law.

Judge Ronald Holliger wrote the dissent.

“David Salazar is now held to be the father of A.S. (the child) for all purposes and all time,” he wrote, “despite both mother and father’s statements to the contrary and without any determination of that relationship by a court of law.”

If convicted again for nonpayment, Holliger noted, Salazar could be guilty of a felony punishable by four years in prison. And by now, Salazar owes more than $13,000 in child support.

Yet only the child support division — never a judge or evidence — named him the father, Holliger noted.

The administrative order should not settle the paternity issue, Holliger contended, and its finding that Salazar must pay child support should not be enough to send him to jail for nonsupport.

Many cases of nonfathers paying child support do not become public because the files are sealed. In 2005, The Kansas City Star reported on two such court battles.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To reach Joe Lambe, call (816) 234-4314 or send e-mail to [email protected].

[el borracho]

1. They should put the woman in jail for erroneously listing him as the father on the birth certificate.

2. Why the heck aren't DNA tests required at birth?

3. Why don't they track down the biological father and have him pay?

4. If the woman can not/ will not provide the name of the biological father then she should forfeit all claims to child support. If she is unable to support her child then the child should be taken away.

[jiveturkey]

Re, reeruned, re, re, reeruned

Sing it with me

Re, reeruned, re, re, reeruned

[el borracho]

Oh, and #5 If I was so obviously wronged by the justice system I would leave the country and never return. There is no way I would pay for a baby I didn't father unless I was actually raising that baby.

[dirk digler]

What a joke. I feel sorry for this guy.

[morphius]

Originally Posted by el borracho

1. They should put the woman in jail for erroneously listing him as the father on the birth certificate.

2. Why the heck aren't DNA tests required at birth?

3. Why don't they track down the biological father and have him pay?

4. If the woman can not/ will not provide the name of the biological father then she should forfeit all claims to child support. If she is unable to support her child then the child should be taken away.

Have to wonder if the nonfather can turn around and sue the actual father for the money.

[Eleazar]

You can't really blame the judge here. His job is to enforce the law as it is written, and it sounds like the guy didn't contest paternity in time to avoid paying child support.

We do need to change this, however, obviously collecting child support from someone other than the father is ridiculous.

[RNR]

Originally Posted by morphius

Have to wonder if the nonfather can turn around and sue the actual father for the money.

You would think.

[BIG_DADDY]

The legal system totally caters to women, this is nothing new.

[Pants]

So the bitch cheated on her husband, got preggers and now the dude has to pay for the bastard child? LOL!

[BIG_DADDY]

My favorite was the girl that wanted to have an abortion but didn't want to pay for it so she had her boyfriend jump on her stomach. She walks because she was entitled to an abortion but he got life of something stupid like that. The thread was posted on CP.

[Brock]

WTF does "could not afford a divorce" mean?

[oldandslow]

Several things about this...

1) the age in MO is 22, not 18, if the child takes one class a semester. So even though non-divorced parents are not forced to pay for schooling, a divorced parent is. Further, they are forced to pay in the summer even though the child is not in class. Finally, they are forced to pay the child's mother, not the child, even if the child is living in a dorm and never goes home.

2) I personally know of a case where a gentleman paid for someone else's kid for 22 years. DOF enforced it. He lost in court. However, in many ways it worked out as he and this child are extremely close.

3) Bitter, party of one.

[siberian khatru]

That's boolsheet.

[Bowser]

Many men nationwide get trapped into paying child support because they do not contest paternity before state-set deadlines.

What. The. fuck.

Stupid bastard deserves it for taking back his wife after knowing she gave birth to someone else's child.