This week the New Jersey Supreme Court handed down a ruling that could have a significant effect on future divorces, child support actions and paternity disputes. Concisely put, the court held that a father can petition a New Jersey court to order a DNA test where he can demonstrate that there is a “reasonable possibility” that his purported child is not his own.

The ruling brought a long divorce dispute to a close. During his 2006 divorce, a man discovered that his wife had had an affair with his sister’s former husband approximately nine months before his youngest son was born. Faced with the staggering revelation that he was not his son’s father, the man bought a home DNA test, which confirmed his suspicions.

He demanded that the true father compensate him for the costs of raising his youngest son, then 22 years old, through his youth and adolescence. He filed a petition in court to request that an official paternity test be administered, but the court refused, arguing that it would not be in the son’s best interests. In testimony provided to the court, the son opposed the use of a DNA test.

The man appealed the decision all the way to the New Jersey Supreme Court, which ruled in his favor by a 5-1 margin. While acknowledging the son’s interests, the majority opinion concluded that “there is an absence of good cause to deny genetic testing.” The justices said that the law, including the New Jersey Parentage Act, was on the father’s side, but the lower courts had refused to recognize its controlling weight because they took personal offense to the father’s demands.

Paternity cases can exact a heavy emotional toll on the persons involved. People will have to balance this against the interest they have in the truth and in a settlement that could result from discovering a child’s actual father. But at least New Jersey parents now know where the law stands on this issue.

Source: The Star-Ledger, “Court: Parents can get genetic test from state when paternity is in doubt,” Salvador Rizzo, Oct. 10, 2012

• New Jersey parents in a similar situation may turn to this case to support their rights in a paternity dispute. You can learn more about paternity and related subjects by visiting our Kingston family law page.