Louisiana men are not always sure that they are the father of a child. Men request paternity tests to verify whether they fathered a woman’s child. Sometimes those tests have surprising results.
For example, an out-of-state man who believed he was the father of fraternal twins — a boy and a girl — began noticing facial characteristics of one of the mother’s ex-boyfriends when he looked at the children. The couple were guests on the “Maury” television show to have a DNA test done after she admitted to an affair with her ex-boyfriend at the time the twins were conceived. The man claimed that he would continue to love the twins and raise them regardless of the results, but forgiving the mother was another story.
When the results came in, they astonished everyone. The twins turned out to be “bipaternal,” which means that each twin was fathered by a different man. This only happens approximately 1 in every 400 fraternal twin births, according to the Baby Center. In order for this to happen, a woman must have sexual relations with each man in the same week in which she was ovulating.
Despite the man’s contention that he will continue to be a father to both children even though the girl is not his biological child, the other man involved has rights as well. He could take the paternity test results and demand that he be put on the girl’s birth certificate and allowed visitation; he could also face claims for child support. This could complicate matters for the couple even further. Even though not many Louisiana men would find themselves in this type of situation, they could discover that they are actually the biological father of a child being raised by another man, and it might be advantageous to discuss the matter with an attorney.
Source: opposingviews.com, “DNA Test Shows Man Is The Father Of Only One Twin“, John Freund, Dec. 28, 2017