Recovery of Child Support Paid

The firm of Rainwater & Gibbs was recently successful in recovering all of the child support paid by the father for a child born during the marriage which was not his. The parties had been married for approximately 5 years and were divorced. After the divorce, the mother took the father back to court and increased his child support obligation. During the marriage she had a secret affair and the husband did not find out anything until he heard rumors after the child support modification that the child was possibly not his. He obtained a home DNA kit over the internet and tested the child. The test indicated that he was not the father and followed up with a more formal test. The father then brought a motion to set aside paternity pursuant to Georgia’s new de-legitimation statute, O.C.G.A Section 19-7-54. The father also added a count in the complaint for damages suffered as a result of the reckless representation of the mother that the child had been his. The father had paid over $30,000 in child support. The case was settled for an amount in excess of the amount of child support paid.