Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Ohio
through ruff times i slept with a friend who then said i would be fathering a child. married her in 2006 before the birth of the baby. found out in 2009 through our divorce as she stood in court and let us know the child was not mine. now in 2011 my wages were attached by the courts because of a hospital bill for her or her child in 2006. we married under false pretenses and the child is not mine. Am I responsible for the bill?
1 Answer from Attorneys
In Ohio if a child is born while two people are married, there arises a legal presumption that the husband is the father. While the divorce court can make orders that are binding upon you and your ex wife with regard to support obligations and so on, it cannot order third parties not made a party to the lawsuit to abide by those orders.
Thus as far as the hospital is concerned, you owe the bill. Your remedy would be to pay the bill then go back to the court and ask that the court order your ex wife to compensate you for it. The hospital will take the position that the services were provided to you when you asked for them and now payment is due, and since they had no part in pulling the wool over your eyes on the issue of paternity, they still deserve to be paid.
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