Secret paternity tests outlawed?

[Haltickling]

Currently, there's a big discussion going on here in Germany. Our Minister of Justice, Mrs Cypris, plans to outlaw secret DNA tests to find out about so-called “cuckoo kids”, i.e. when a kid is the result of adultery.

Until now, fathers could bring their own and the kid's DNA material (hair, toothbrush etc) to private labs to find out if his wife lied about his biological fatherhood. Such a test costs about $ 200 and can tell fairly certain (99.9%) whether the kid was sired by him. He could do so without telling the mother about it.

This will change now. The German Supreme Court ruled that secret DNA tests violate the children's basic rights on their genetic material. Fatherhood tests can only be ordered by courts, not by private persons. Fathers testing the DNA material secretly, without approval from the mother, can be punished with 1 year imprisonment. Additionally, private DNA tests are not admitted as evidence in court.

Now, my feelings about this are quite mixed. One the one hand, I approve of everybody's basic rights on his/her own genetic material, but on the other hand, this law gives cheating wives an unfair advantage. How is this handled in the States, and what are your thoughts on this?

 

[His Divine Shadow]

Here in the states? I don't think most fathers care. This isn't something I've ever heard about. Probably because here in the good 'ole US of A, both spouses are sleeping around.😀

It could be that we do have a law against it, and that is why I haven't heard about it. I was under the impression that DNA testing was done only by Law Enforcement and the like. Then again, I could just be out of the loop, as usual.

 

[tkrexx]

Ex-husbands can and have been ordered to pay child support for children who aren't theirs, whether sired before or after marriage. Fathers who didn't know they have kids have also been ordered to pay child support, as in the case of a fellow I know who's been married some 8 years and was sought out by courts as an ex-gf was divorcing. She'd been fooling her husband all that time, until his lawyer managed to convince the court a paternity test was in the best interest of the child. Surprise! So if Daddy won't pay child support, I'll find someone who will. Not a dime goes to the man who loved that child for years and now can't even see him. Not a dime, not a thank you, not a kiss my ass.

It seems, Hal, that Germany is following the US's lead in making this particular sort of FRAUD not only legal, but encouraged.

Rxx

 

[desdemona]

Here in the states, legal smegal doesn't count for much. As far as I know, talk show hosts order paternity tests so they have spousal confrontations. And now network TV gets into the game with "Who's Your Daddy" on Fox - adopted kids trying to figure who their biological father is. It's beginning to make biology - if not conception - look like a joke.