A Texas man is now caught in a grueling battle with child support courts that are ordering him to pay $65,000.00 for a child that isn't even his.
The American child support system is not only shattered and broken but it's a biased and impartial system designed to target males whilst giving unequal rights to women to begin with.
In this case however, much as in a multitude of other scenarios, there has been a gross miscarriage of justice towards 45 year old Gabriel Cornejo.
The man took a DNA test last year against his now ex-girlfriend’s child, and it was found that he is not the father of the kid. Even with the vindication of the results, Gabriel is being ordered by the court system to pay the $65,000.00 towards the child.
Cornejo is a father of three himself, and also is now raising his brother's two children. He adamantly claims he was never notified of the Child Support order which dates back to 2003, until a County Sheriff arrived at his door last year to serve him with court documents for failure to pay.
After Cornejo was told of the court order, he then decided to take the paternity test which the results proved he was not the father.
However Texas state law is a bit more farfetched, with chapter 161 of the Texas family code saying that a potential father still owes child support for a child until that man is proved to not be the child’s father, which the test results didn't happen until last year.
So according to the court system, clearly broken in this instance, Cornejo now owes child support dating back to 2003.
According to local news station KTRK-TV, court documents “suggest, but don’t prove,” that Cornejo was indeed served with a subpoena years ago about the child support, but he claims he never received it, suggesting that it never happened.
“I never thought in my whole life I would have to defend myself of something that I am innocent of,” Cornejo told KRTK in the interview.
Cornejo’s attorney, Cheryl Coleman, recently claimed that she has discovered evidence that proves her client was never served papers when the court made its original ruling against him.
“I’ve researched the records and found that there is an issue with the service where they served him back in 2002. There are some anomalies with how this case handled by the attorney general’s office. He was never served with those documents in 2002 when the actual paternity petition was filed against him.”
His ex-girlfriend however has her own attorney, Carel Stith, who claims that many years ago the state of Texas garnished payments for the child support from one of Cornejo’s paychecks and he never fought it in court, which shows that he not only knew about the child and the order but he had no disputes.
“Don’t stick your head in the sand,” Stith said. “It won’t go away, and there can be consequences even if you don’t do anything.”
Under current Texas laws however which are designed to benefit the mother, as are the laws in most states, with little to no regard for the male; Cornejo has very little choice in the matter.
Cornejo’s lawyer can formally request that a judge reopen the case to not only review the original ruling, but attempt to sway it into Cornejo’s favor, albeit legal experts say this is highly unlikely.
The most common outcome unfortunately for justice, since the child isn't his to begin with, is that the courts will order him to pay the arrearages. In these cases when the men do not pay, in many states, they could end up in jail or prison. The case is due back in court next month.
Cornejo also said that he just wants the existing Texas law to be altered so that no others in the future will be held responsible for child support for a child that isn’t theirs.
The system is clearly broken, whereas any woman could claim some ex-boyfriend who lives out of state was the father, attempt to subpoena him to court, once he doesn't receive notification because he's several hundred or thousand miles away, the court will issue a payment.
In those cases the father may not even find out until several years later that the he was ordered let alone have a chance to dispute the matter with a DNA test. It's a woman's world, and many of them abuse it.
Source:
http://abc13.com/news/court-man-who-isnt-father-of-child-still-owes-payments/2236804/
