The biological father of a child cannot establish paternity if he has neglected to assume such a role, a New York appeals court has ruled in decision that fills in the limits of such claims.
It was in the best interests of the eight-year-old child to deny a request by the father for a genetic test where the mother acknowledged that the father was the son’s biological parent, the Appellate Division in Brooklyn decided on April 19.
The court noted that state law gives parents the right to a DNA test to aid in a determination of paternity unless a judge finds that the test would not be in the best interests of the child. The judge at Family Court found that the test would not be in the best interests of the child because the putative father had not participated in his upbringing.
The Appellate Division agreed. Writing on behalf of three of his colleagues, Justice Mark Dillon noted that the father “provided limited financial support for the child and had seen the child only approximately 20 times over the course of the child’s life.”
“The [mother’s] husband, whose name appears on the birth certificate, had assumed the role of the child’s father, providing for the child financially and emotionally and living with the [mother] and their other children as a family unit consistently for the entirety of the child’s life,” he added.
Though the parents agreed that the putative father was, in fact, the child’s biological parent, the Family Court “properly estopped [the father] from asserting a claim of paternity in the child’s best interests.”