Young Marine Must Continue To Pay Child Support for a Child That Is Not His

[The Straight Story]

Brandon Parsons is a young Marine who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. On January 22, 2013, San Diego Superior Court Judge Gregory Pollack ruled that Brandon Parsons will have to continue paying child support for another twelve years for another man’s child.

His reason is that Brandon Parsons did not file his request for an order for DNA paternity testing of the child, Ashton Parsons, and the mother, Crystal Parsons, until two years after the child’s birth. Because of this delay, Brandon will have to continue paying child support for another twelve years for another man’s child.

Brandon is currently required to pay $1,377 per month, approximately one-third of his income, for a total of $16,524 per year. To date, he has paid over $50,000 to support Ashton and is on pace to pay over $250,000 before his obligation ends.

The Court found Crystal Parsons’ testimony to be totally untrustworthy. It called her actions in deliberately lying to Brandon about being the father of the child “despicable.” In his written opinion, Judge Pollack states his views as follows: “The court denies the motions of Respondent Brandon Parsons to set aside Judgment and order blood testing to determine paternity. The motions are statutorily untimely under Family Code Section 2122, 7646,7541 and C.C.P. Section 473. The Paternity determination set forth within the 2009 martial dissolution judgment stipulated to by father, is res judicata and not subject to an equitable set aside.”

http://www.fathersandfamilies.org/enews/cv/enews-20130215.html

***Please note, not a regular news site I use, I know nothing about them. I found cross references from other sites mentioning this as well (military sites, etc). There is a PDF relating to the case here:

http://www.fathersandfamilies.org/enews/docs/Brandon%20Parsons%20Declaration.pdf


Same judge in this case:
Abused wife suffers final insult: paying alimony to jailed husband
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/ault_in_her_wounds_hMsHTez9hE9xFaZ53SAdoN
Also here:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/sexual-assault-victim-ordered-pay-alimony-attacker-fights/story?id=16075409

"But Pollack did not see it that way, saying in court, "It's a long-term marriage. He's a stay-at-home dad... how can you say there should be no support without being sexist?" He even suggested Shawn Harris should get more money since he was un-hirable. "

[Angry Dragon]

1. I will sit here and shake my head

[spanone]

2. i wouldn't do it. period.

[HappyMe]

3. If you don't,

you get tossed in the slammer.

[datasuspect]

8. unless you're joe walsh

[HappyMe]

9. Sad, but true.

[Blue_Tires]

10. That would just be following a really dumb decision with an even worse one...

If he can't get it overturned in court or negotiate some other settlement, he'll just have to bite the bullet and make damn sure the payment stays where it is now as his pay grade steadily rises...

[msongs]

4. cue the feminists for equality outrage in.... nt

[Poll_Blind]

5. Someone tried to pull this on me and I know two others who've had it happen to them.

The thing is, a lot of guys either A) totally swallow the story and by the time they have questions it's too late or B) they already have suspicions but go along with it anyway, wrongly thinking that if the child turns out to not be theirs, no court in the land would make them pay child support for it.

And they're wrong. It's not just this judge making an arbitrary decision.

The lady that tried to pull it on me swore up and down it was my child (she was pregnant at the time), though I was already having serious doubts that she could have gotten pregnant in the time frame because we only dated briefly. I spoke to my late mother about this (this was a LONG time ago) and she said strange stuff happened all the time but she mentioned this scam having been successfully pulled on a neighbor's son and nomatter what, it was worth the money to do the test (it was like $600 at the time, IIRC) just to be sure.

Well, the lady went through all the paperwork, all sorts of stuff and the whole time claiming there was no way it could be anybody but me because, except for out brief relationship she'd not had any kind of intimate relations with anyone else, yadda yadda.

And when the genetics test came back, 3 out of 3 said there was no way in hell I could be the father.

Scam-a-lam-a-ding-dong.

Oh, there's deadbeat dads allright. And there's scammin' moms, too.

PB

[Blue_Tires]

6. Sadly, that's nothing new...

Which is why if there is even .000000000001% chance of doubt, you get tested BEFORE signing the birth certificate, BEFORE making any obligations, and BEFORE buying that first pack of diapers...Courts in most states have upheld that a father providing support for a child after a certain amount of time must keep providing in the best interests of the child; even if he has proven he isn't the biological father...

I know we've all been young and dumb before, but Parsons should have known that uniform, steady income+benefits, and being 2000 miles away from home pretty much tattooed "mark" on his forehead...

[liberal_at_heart]

7. This is very important

If you establish that you are taking care of the child then the court will just assume that you will continue to be responsible for the child. It would take resources to track down the biological father, resources the court either does not have or does not want to use. It is not fair, but what is happening to the child is not fair either. That is the perspective of the court. Someone has to pay for the child. It's not fair. I'm not sure how you change it, but one way or another that child must be taken care of. Definitely a tale of caution to any man out there who gets someone pregnant and is not 100% sure the child is his. What is more expensive? A paternity test or 18 years of child support?

[Blue_Tires]

15. Not only that,

But some judges have also invoked the "best able to care for child" factor, too...As in, if the biological father is located and shown to be an unemployed ditchdigger with two other kids he isn't supporting, the court has no choice but to maintain the status quo...

[FarCenter]

18. It would be pretty easy to fix with a national DNA database

The hospital could always take a DNA sample of every baby and run it against the database to determine who the father is.

It would eliminate all the guesswork.

[WinkyDink]

11. I would pursue justice as far as the courts allowed.

[slackmaster]

13. The only thing he can do is to go after the biological father in civil court, if he can find out...

...who the person is.

[WinkyDink]

16. The courts should absolve him and make Mom go find out!

[slackmaster]

17. Yeah, morally so but that's not what the law says.

The law says if you have let two years go by without challenging paternity, you have no standing to challenge it.

[WinkyDink]

19. As Dickens wrote:

"If the law supposes that," said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, "the law is an ass - an idiot".

[slackmaster]

12. The same thing happened to my stepbrother. Two years, California rules of evidence.

He was stuck paying child support for a child that was obviously not his even on the day it was born, for over 15 years.

The child's biological father was a dirtbag who got away with not supporting several children of various women.

[actslikeacarrot]

20. There is a reason that they give...

...briefs to young military members (boots) about getting married too quick and about WRAPPING IT THE FUCK UP. These briefs are given to women and men, there are those out there that see the guaranteed paycheck twice a month and the benefits and cant resist.

[arely staircase]

21. well, the law is the law

i believe there is a fairly old common law precedent for this. after two years he has pretty much assumed the role of the kids biological father.