I recently ran across an Associated Press story datelined Adel (Georgia) July 16th and entitled “Man jailed for not supporting someone else’s child”, and decided to add my own two cents worth.
The article describes the sad plight of Frank Hatley (age 50), a Georgia man who had been jailed since 2008 for failing to keep up child support payments for a child (now age 21) who wasn’t his.
A DNA test in 2000 had showed that contrary to what the mother had told him, the child was not his own and a second more recent DNA test confirmed that result.
As if that’s not bad enough…
A hearing in 2001 determined that he was not the father and he was exempted from making future payments. However, he was ordered by the court to make $16,000 in back payments to the woman (that’s not a misprint!).
He managed to pay her $6,000 of that amount before he was laid off from his job and was then unable to continue paying her, so off to jail he was sent.
If you have an IQ in triple digits (or even in double digits), several thoughts probably come to mind here. Such as …
- How exactly was he supposed to continue paying her if he was laid off … rob a bank?
- How exactly was he supposed to earn the money to resume payments while he was in jail?? That’d be like your track coach handcuffing you to a fence until you run the mile in under four minutes. Hmmm… as long as you’re handcuffed, you won’t be running anywhere at any speed. Truly moronic!
- Why is he being hounded for past payments for something he did not do (and when it can be proven with absolute certainty that he’s not the dad)?
- Why is she not in jail for fraud for having lied about him being the father so that she could steal money from him?
- Why is she not in jail until she makes full restitution (by paying him back all of the money she had defrauded him out of, plus interest)?
As George Orwell wrote in Animal Farm…
“All animals are equal … but some
are more equal than others”
Unfortunately (if you’re male), the same holds for genders in the U.S. family court system.
Amazingly enough, what caught my eye with this story was not how egregiously the legal system treated this unfortunate fellow (although it certainly did that). Nope, it was because this sort of story is not out of the ordinary.
There’s an old cliché in the news business that if a dog bites a man, that isn’t news … but if a man bites a dog, that is news.
And over the years, I’ve seen (and heard of) so many examples of men getting screwed by the family court system where paternity is alleged that I was as surprised to see this story published as I would have been to see a story which reported that “the sun came up this morning” … that’s news?
“…
guys have been hit for child support for having donated sperm to a sperm bank years before
…”
I’ve even heard of a few instances where guys have been hit for child support for having donated sperm to a sperm bank years before (and subsequently were tracked down by the moms looking to boost their own standard of living belatedly).
In fact, it’s not even necessary to allege paternity in some States … a court can decide that you have “bonded” with a child and you can then be assessed child support even if you’re still a virgin.
Date a woman with kids from previous liaisons and let them come along when you and the mom go to the beach, and you’re at risk of ending up as her personal ATM machine for up to 18 years even if you never see her or the kids again (and even if she hadn’t put out for you).
What a nightmare!
Stay tuned,
-Mack Doppler
