Ex-wife sued in fatherhood
row
By MARK DUNN
11 September 2001
A
PRECEDENT-setting damages case, by a man suing his former wife over the alleged
illegitimacy of her children, will go ahead in Melbourne.
The man claims
DNA tests have proven two of the woman's children, for whom he had paid years
of child support, were fathered by another man.
He has filed
documents with the County Court alleging fraud and is suing his former spouse
for a figure believed to be about $400,000.
He claims loss
of money through child support and anxiety and depression after allegedly discovering
the children were not his.
The pre-teen
children are aware of the dispute and have received counseling.
The man faced a
childcare bill of $178,063 from 1992 until this year and had paid $30,388
before discontinuing his support.
The court documents
call for the woman to outline any sexual relationships she had with men outside
the marriage in the period when both children were conceived.
The woman has
also been asked to disclose when and how she realized the children were not her
husband's.
The couple were
married in 1988 and in 1990 a boy was born, followed by a girl in 1991.
The man claims
that at all times his then wife was aware the children were not his.
In the
documents, the man has asked his former wife about statements she allegedly
made after the births, which led him to believe the children were his.
The documents
also seek her comment on the development of the children's facial features
which were said to be inconsistent with his own.
The name of a
second man is included in the documents, with allegations he is the real father
of the children.
Access is also
sought to a diary the woman may have kept, in which an admission about the real
father might have been made.
Melbourne DNA
specialists have said up to 30 per cent of men seeking DNA tests for paternity,
because of suspected infidelity, are found not to be the biological fathers of
the children they support.
A three-day
civil trial in the County Court at Melbourne has been set down for April next
year.
