Another man is punished because he trusted his wife. From Ark. Supreme Court upholds Ashley Co. child support decision (5/17/07):
“The Arkansas Supreme Court has upheld a lower court’s decision requiring an Ashley County man to pay child support for a child he didn’t father, because he didn’t contest the paternity in his divorce decree.
“Kevin Martin and Lisa Pierce married in 1988, and filed for divorce in 1997. The divorce was uncontested, but in 2004 Pierce filed a petition of contempt against Martin to gain back child support.
“A DNA test showed Martin wasn’t the child’s father. But the Ashley County Circuit Court found that that law wasn’t applicable to Martin’s case, because the law is a part of the state’s paternity code, which does not apply to divorce decrees.
“The high court affirmed that decision in a split opinion issued today. Associate Justice Robert L. Brown disagreed with the majority’s ruling saying the Legislature has been abundantly clear that a man who is not the biological father shouldn’t be forced to pay child support.”
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