A Texas child support court has ordered a man to pay $65,000 for a child that allegedly isn’t his own.  According to Chron, Gabriel Cornejo, 45, has to pay child support to his ex-girlfriend who had given birth to a daughter and swore to the courts that Gabriel was the child’s father.

From ABC 13, Gabriel who is now married and a father of three and raising his brother’s kids says he had no idea about the court ruling and wasn’t keeping up with the child support payments for over 16 years.  Cornejo only found out about the child support payments when a deputy showed up at his home with court documents indicating he has another child.

His current wife and ex-girlfriend both advised him to take a paternity test and he agreed and when the results came back he was declared not the father.  You would think that would be the end of it and clear his name, right?  Well, you’re wrong!  Did you know under the state of Texas’ family code - chapter 161, it states that an alleged parent still owes child support payments that accrue until a paternity test can prove otherwise, even if one ends up not being the biological father.

To make matters even worse Cornejo’s ex-girlfriend and the state of Texas are demanding he pay up the $65K balance in back payments and the sad part is he might have to do so.  Gabriel’s attorney Cheryl Coleman says he had no reason to take a paternity test to avoid payments.  However, his ex-girlfriend’s attorney claimed he ignored a subpoena in 2003 related to the case and child support was taken out of his check which he never tried to fight.

This is a really unfortunate situation and a really dumb law in my opinion!  If the paternity case proves he isn’t the father, it makes sense he should be released from all child support payments. Cornejo has another court date coming up so let’s hope his attorney can get the judge to reopen the case, because if not, he could either pay the balance or possibly serve jail time.  Let’s hope for the best.

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