How common is it for a woman to lie to a man about the biological father of her child?

Question

The topic is raised here with alarming frequency, and since I have personal knowledge of one case, I am curious to know how often this situation actually occurs.

I know a woman who was married and got pregnant by man outside of the marriage. She is now divorced, but the ex-husband thinks the baby is his, pays child support and gets his legal visitation. The actual biological father does know he has a child, but keeps his distance so as not to screw up the current child support arrangement (it benefits the biological father , since he’s not the one paying). I do not know whether the biological father gets any visitation (or indeed if he wants any).

I’d like to see any kind of evidence, anecdotal or empirical, to indicate whether this is a growing trend or just the topic of sensational gossip.

Answer 1

Robinson; true, approximately 30% of contested cases result in the finding that "dad", isn't. In one jurisdiction, unwed fathers were encouraged by OCSE (office of child support enforcement) to request DNA analysis before agreeing to paternity; those results were 50%. Other studies of intact families show from 14-20% of the time, the father is not related to what he thinks are 'his children'.
Still, what are the actual national average percentages? No one actually knows. One article I read on this stated that such research could and probably would tend to destabilize many, many families. For this reason, it has become a political problem that many want to simply ignore. The implications of what it would mean in the rather large arena of child support is one thing but when one thinks that up to 20% or more of 200,000,000 million people were not kin to their father... the mind boggles.
One would think this to be of some matter of importance and I think DNA should be ordered conducted on every child born in the US as a matter of course. Many men would not consider asking for one due to the problems encountered by the fact that doing so is tantamount to suspecting his wife/girlfriend is lying or unfaithful. According to what is known, all men should and let the chips fall where they may.
What happens to women who perpetuate such fraud? Actually, not much, if anything at all. The second link below is a story about a woman who used elaborate means to create a child that didn't in fact, exist. When discovered, she was ordered to repay the "father" for child support she scammed from him and the state of New Mexico found her guilty of filing a false tax return. So far, the only jail time she has been sentenced to (16 months) is for defrauding the state, which will probably be all she will receive.

Answer 2

The actual number is not known, as everyone alive today would need to be DNA tested. However, various studies tend to estimate between 10-25%. Apparently if a woman is unfaithful to her main partner, she is more likely for biological reasons to become pregnant to her lover.

It's not uncommon, and it happens far too frequently. From anecdotal evidence, my guess is that it is happening more and more often.

If you want plenty of anecdotal evidence, hang out on pregnancy forums and bulletin boards. There are huge numbers of questions along the line of, "I had sex with my boyfriend two days before having sex with my husband/fiance/partner and now I'm pregnant and don't know who the father is".

All I can say, if I was a man and my wife/girlfriend/partner got pregnant, I would be getting a DNA test done. I think they should be done as a matter of course by hospitals.

Answer 3

Watch Judge Hatchett sometime. I've seen cases where the woman says she's more than 100% sure a particular guy is the father...turns out he's not.

I had a maternal uncle whose first wife cheated on him. The children she had were not his--and as a result, when they divorced, he didn't have to pay child support.

My dad's first wife cheated on him right and left. They had five children, two of whom we KNOW are his because they look exactly like him. The middle three...there's some doubt.

I could never do that to my husband. My conscience would declare all-out war on me!

Answer 4

Pretty common and it harms the child badly, since some girls will try to get pregnant by 3 different guys or so to get 3 child support cheques. Guess what most of the money will be used for.

Answer 5

It varies from about 3% in the West, to 30% in some Third World areas. Apparently, advanced birth control methods can keep it down. This is a contingent evolved strategy of female, or so it is posited, ( small empirical support among humans, but strongly supported among birds ) as a way to get " good " genes and a good provider. ( Non-conscious.strategy; as evolved strategies are )

Answer 6

I have never heard of this happening. I deal with the other end of the spectrum where women tell men they are pregnant, and the blokes bugger off. I would think that this whole situation would be unfair to everyone. This is a dishonest woman, and I pity both men and the child for this deception. Is this an actual case or is this as you said just sensational gossip?

Answer 7

It is apparently called "paternity fraud."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paternity_fraud (Good because it explains that the "30%" rate does not apply to the general population, only to those who actually order tests)

http://www.rense.com/general51/chsup.htm (I am not sure about the veracity of this site, because it looks like an advocacy site, but you can check it out if you wish)

http://www.childsupportanalysis.co.uk/analysis_and_opinion/choices_and_behaviours/aabb.htm (This looks like a good site and it gives a prevalence rate of about 10% for Australia, although this seems too high to me)

That is what I have on the subject. Hope it helps.

Answer 8

I don't have any stats for you, but I will say this: Any woman (AND the idiot who actually fathered the child) who does this is a word that I can't say on the Internet.

Speaking of Maury, I once saw a clip in which the parents were white, the kid was black, and the father never questioned his paternity. Never!

Answer 9

it is far too common and it is wrong.the kid is lied to their whole life and so is a man and for one reason only so a lying cheating w hore can rip a man off of child support and trick him into playing daddy to a kid that aint his and the real daddy gets off scott free.i hate women like that they are no better than a stray dog in heat and i pity her poor kids and the man thats stupid enough to trust her ever!

Answer 10

yes, it is very common and one of the most despicable thing anyone could do...Everyone concerned is being lied to and cheated out of a relationship...except the hussy who did not have the common decency to at least protect herself if she could not honor her vows....I know several cases of this and when (or) if the father/child finds out about it, it is devastating...I have worked in the law arena for years and I have seen it more than you could imagine.