A man was recently delivered victory in court, securing a non-paternity order to disestablish legal ties with twin girls likely birthed due to illicit trysts between him, his former wife, and another man. The court directive, granted earlier this year, was only made public by the Family Court this week in an effort to preserve the identities of the individuals involved.
Upon marrying, the couple adopted children, and together raised twins born to the woman several years later – a seemingly miraculous occurrence given the man’s vasectomy performed over a decade earlier. However, the birth of the twin girls was less divine intervention and more the product of a third party – another man, presumably the biological father of the twins, with whom the couple had developed a relationship.
The woman contends this relationship evolved out of a prevalent desire to become pregnant, but the man asserts he had no intention of further expanding their family and was dumbfounded by her pregnancy. The nature of the relationship at the time of the twins’ conception remains disputable. Nonetheless, post-separation, familial relationships deteriorated, culminating in the man’s application for a non-paternity order.
Although he wasn’t their biological father, the twins bore his last name. He was listed on their birth certificates, a fact he sought to reverse recently. The official annulment of the couple’s marriage arrived merely three months prior, after two years of separation.
Detailing their life to the court, the twins’ mother claims her ex-husband had been embedded in their lives from the beginning – partaking in holidays, gifting presents, even naming them as beneficiaries in his will, referring to them fondly as “my children”. She conceded, however, that her ex-husband was not particularly hands-on as a father and questioned his intentions in demanding a non-paternity order after all these years. She argued that he sought to evade child support obligations and prevent the twins from filing familial protection claims against him.
Contradicting her claims, the man stated to the court that he had always been casual with the twins, they had only holidayed together once, no presents were bought, and he distanced himself promptly following the separation. As per Judge McKenzie’s verdict, the twins bore no relationship with the man, and he was purposefully reticent, rejecting any notion of a relationship with them.
The verdict underscored that evidence was lacking to denote any significant father-daughter relationship. There were no photos of shared experiences, tokens of tenderness, or profound father-daughter moments. “They were children who lived in his house” stated Judge McKenzie, who ruled in favor of the man, granting him a non-paternity order and erasing his name from the twins’ birth certificates.
Speaking thereafter, the man professed his court application was filed in defense of his honor. “I am not a family man,” he uttered, revealing his marginal involvement in their triadic rendezvous, merely an onlooker as his wife reassured him of the safety of their engagements. Emphasizing the staleness of the issue and his unconventional lifestyle, he asserted his satisfaction with life, “I have no sexual prudence. I am sexually free.”
