Published On: Fri, Dec 21st, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!

By: Michael H. Gora

Q:     A week ago I received a baby announcement and a Summons and paternity lawsuit on the same day.  As Bill Clinton once said, I never had sex with that woman.”

We shared a brief romance, but never got to going further than the oral version of an intimate relationship, and I don’t mean having an interesting conversation.

Against the advice of an attorney I had not yet retained, I called the new mom and congratulated her on her brand new daughter. Then I asked her about the paternity suit.  “Well you’re the lucky dad, she replied, I’m certain.”

I questioned her certainty, and pointed out that we had never performed the “deed”.  She agreed, but told me that she was thirty five years old; her biological clock was running out, wanted a “kid” and had no real relationship going.

“She’s a TB girl,” she said.  “TB? Is she sick,” I replied.  She then told me that she didn’t swallow, preserved my semen, and when I left her apartment tried (successfully) to impregnate herself with a turkey baster. Happy Thanksgiving I offered.

She admitted that we had never discussed her “needs” or agreed upon having “artificial insemination”, or having a kid.  She agreed that I had not agreed.  Great, I thought, I’ll tell that to my lawyer and no problem for me, not my kid, never agreed, and no child support would come my way.

Am I right, or shafted?

A       Put it this way, “She got the elevator.”  You have no legal defense, are the dad, and will have all the rights and duties attached.

You have the right to call the child yours, have typical access privileges, but also have regular child support obligations.

After “launch” you are responsible for all results of your wandering sperm whether you agreed or did not agree.  Fraud is no defense to your legal obligations or rights to your child, by statute or appellate decisions.

Michael H. Gora has been certified by the Board of Education and Specialization of The Florida Bar as a specialist in family and matrimonial law, and is a partner with Shapiro Blasi Wasserman & Gora P.A. in Boca Raton.  Mr. Gora may be reached by e-mail at mhgora@sbwlawfirm.com.

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