[Avodah] A question of Yichus

[Zev Sero]

On 11/06/2012 7:32 AM, Shoshana L. Boublil wrote:
> The question is: Is there any way to remove the obligation to pay child
> support for this child WITHOUT making the child a mamzer. The husband is
> willing to have his name on the ID and legal papers of the child, he just
> doesn't want to pay for someone else's kid.

If that's all he wants, there is a very simple solution: let him tell the
mother that if she ever makes any financial demands of him for the child's
support, he will exercise his halachic power to declare the child a mamzer.
If he were to do so the child would be a mamzer, and there is nothing any
rabbi could do to prevent it.  It's entirely in his hands.  He doesn't
*want* to do this to an innocent child, so as long as no demands are made
of him he will remain silent and all will be well.



> This is distinct from other
> cases where the father had already raised the child for several years and
> made a connection (like an adoptive father would), when the truth came to
> light.

Why is this distinction significant?  He could do the same at any time
that he discovered how he'd been deceived.


> One point: In Israeli law, fatherhood has to be established to a level
> of over 50% certainty to force someone to pay.

In much of the USA a husband is responsible for his wife's chidren even
if he can prove with 100% certainty that they are *not* his.   Also,
even if he's not married to the mother, if he has acknowledged the child
he remains responsible even if he can prove that it is not his.  This is
truly a case of "haratzachta vegam yarashta".


-- 
Zev Sero        "Natural resources are not finite in any meaningful
zev at sero.name    economic sense, mind-boggling though this assertion
                  may be. The stocks of them are not fixed but rather
		 are expanding through human ingenuity."
		                            - Julian Simon