As top rated BC Paternity test and Vancouver parentage testing lawyers, we are often asked to help a party to a child custody and support proceeding prove their partner or they are a father to the child. Sometimes a parent resists their obligation to pay support because they have doubts that are a parent. IN other times a parent tries to restrict contact by another potential parent by denying they have fathered the child. Finally, there may be “paternity fraud” cases where the spouse believes the mother has conceived a child with another man and testing is demanded and the results may well lead to a divorce or relationship breakdown.
You may be surprised by the conclusions regarding “Paternity Fraud” of a 2002 Globe and Mail article by medical columnist Carolyn Abraham based upon disturbing statistics from apparently reliable sources. Paternity fraud ( where a a non biological father has been fooled into believing he is the real father when he is not) appears to occur in somewhere between 5% and 15% of cases. The courts have provided mixed responses to paternity fraud and the key point to be learned is that if you have doubts about whether you are the father testing should occur immediately not years later. Call us now toll free across BC at 1 877 602 9900 or contact us.
Care must also be taken to consider the impact of making a demand for paternity testing on a claim for custody or shared custody for example.
Either way the court can assist by ordering paternity also called parentage testing. Our new Family Law Act contains this provision:
Parentage tests
33 (1) In this section, “parentage tests” are tests used to identify inheritable characteristics, and include
(a) human leukocyte antigen tests,
(b) tests of the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), and
(c) any other test the court considers appropriate.
(2) On application by a party to a proceeding under this Part,
(a) the Supreme Court, or
(b) if necessary for the purposes of making an order under section 31 [orders declaring parentage], the Provincial Court,
may order a person, including a child, to have a tissue sample or blood sample, or both, taken by a medical practitioner or other qualified person for the purpose of conducting parentage tests.
(3) An order under subsection (2) of this section may require a party to pay all or part of the cost of the parentage tests.
(4) If a person named in an order under subsection (2) of this section fails to comply with the order, the court may draw from that failure any inference that the court considers appropriate.
The new law is likely to come into effect in 2013 but similar rules allow for the court to order parents or potential parents to obtain cheap DNA testing at a cost of $500-$1000. Section 95.1 of the Family Relations Act allows the court to order a paternity test where a man denies a responsibility to pay child support. Paternity tests can also be ordered under Rule 9-5 of the Supreme Court Family Rules and Rule 15 of the BC Family Court Rules.
