Man ordered to pay $65K in child support for kid that isn't his
FOX NEWS - A Texas man is battling a court order that mandates he must pay tens of thousands in child support for a child that he did not biologically father and who he met only once.
In 2003, a child support court in Texas ruled that Gabriel Cornejo, 45, had to pay child support to his ex-girlfriend who had recently given birth because she vowed that there was no way he wasn’t the rightful dad.
Cornejo, who is currently raising three children of his own and two nephews, claimed that he was not made aware of this and only found out about the child support payments last year when a deputy served him court papers claiming that the state of Texas lists him as having another child. He soon met the minor for the first and only time – describing her as a “wonderful girl” – but after taking a DNA test, learned she was not his after all.
Only Cornejo’s ex-girlfriend and the state still want the $65,000 in back payments.
“I never thought in my whole life I would have to defend myself of something that I am innocent of,” he said.
Texas’ family code, chapter 161, states that even if one is not the biological father, they still owe support payments that accrued before the paternity test proves otherwise. In Cornejo’s case, that amounts to some $65,000.