Review of the Ohio case State ex rel. Doe v. Capper, wherein the issues pertained to adoption, posterior paternity claim and genetic testing.
The Court of Common Pleas lacked subject matter jurisdiction to order the child to undergo genetic testing, in the alleged father’s action to establish paternity, where adoptive parents’ adoption of the child was finalized before the parentage action was filed.
Laura Morgan is a Family Law Consultant. Laura is available for consultation, brief writing and research on family law issues throughout the country. She can be reached through her Web site.
There are many statutes that say that any party in a proceeding can establish paternity by requesting scientific testing. As mentioned above, that standing is limited to men in divorce cases (as opposed to paternity cases). DNA tests are almost exclusively used, and are admissible as evidence if the probability is between 0 and 95%. If the probability is 95% or greater, then there is a reasonable presumption that the husband is the biological father, putting the ball in his court to prove otherwise.
According to the American Bar Organization (ABA), the state of California saw its first case back on November 18, 2015, in Findley v. Lee. In the post, the ABA states that “Judge Anne-Christine Massullo of the San Francisco Superior Court ruled that a woman could not use frozen embryos after she divorced her ex-husband.” The judge agrees that the consent and agreement form that the intended parents signed remained an enforceable contract under the California laws. The article continues to advocate that Judge Massullo’s ruling remains consistent and in line with other “post-divorce embryo custody cases” in New York, New Jersey, and Tennessee.
Allegations of child abuse in custody litigation have occurred with increased frequency in recent decades. The prevalence of false allegations of child abuse has similarly increased, destroying otherwise healthy and loving parent-child relationships, leaving long-lasting emotional scars on child victims, threatening the freedoms of those wrongfully accused, impacting the ability of vilified parents to financially support their children, and creating judicial waste grounded in the witting manipulation of various experts and the judiciary by a vengeful parent.
Diana Shepherd has over 30 years of experience as a marketing, branding, SEO, copywriting, editing, and publishing expert. As Content Director for Family Lawyer Magazine, Divorce Magazine, and Divorce Marketing Group, she oversees all corporate content development and frequently creates SEO-friendly videos, podcasts, and copy for family law and financial firms.
The Co-Founder of Divorce Magazine and Divorce Marketing Group, Diana is an award-winning editor, published author, and a nationally recognized expert on divorce, remarriage, finance, and stepfamily issues. She has written hundreds of articles geared towards both family law professionals and divorcing people, and she has both performed and taught on-page SEO for 20+ years.
Diana spent eight years as the Marketing Director for the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts® (IDFA®), and she has been a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst® since 2006. While at IDFA, she wrote, designed, and published The IDFA Marketing Guide, and she also created seminars for CDFA professionals to present to family lawyers (approved for CLE), as well as to separated and divorcing individuals.
She has represented both DMG and IDFA at industry conferences and events across North America, and she has given marketing as well as divorce financial seminars at many of those conferences.
