Protecting the Father-Child Bond Against Nonpaternity Action: Legislative, Judicial and Constitutional Approaches

Abstract

Many jurisdictions now allow divorcing mothers to deny the husband's biological paternity of children of the marriage, and to prove their denial by means of court-ordered blood tests even where the husband wishes to remain a parent and objects to judicial determination of the paternity issue. This article reviews legal strategies and offers recommendations for legislative reform to protect the marital father's developed relationship with his child against interference or termination through such non-paternity actions. The normative basis for the arguments is the importance of preserving a child's relationship with its de facto marital father, as opposed to a legal definition of child-parent relationships based exclusively on biological parentage.

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