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HappyMomma · 06-03-2008, 04:09 PM

Man Who Is Not Child's Father Must Pay Support

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- A man is responsible for child support even though a paternity test proved he is not the father of a child born during his marriage, Maryland's second-highest court has ruled.

For nearly 13 years, Darren G. Kamp said he was the father of the child, despite evidence to the contrary.

The Court of Special Appeals ruled that a Garrett County Circuit judge should not have approved Kamp's request for genetic testing without considering the best interests of the child.
Retired Judge Charles E. Moylan Jr. was specially assigned to the panel. He wrote because of that error, "it follows that the court erred in terminating (Kamp's) child support obligation based on the paternity test results."

Kamp's attorney, G. Gary Hanna of Cumberland, said recent events make him uncertain of the case's future.

"We were disappointed with the decision, especially in light of the fact that the child and child's mother have now completely left the jurisdiction," Hanna said. "That is a subtlety that we weren't able to tell to the Court of Special Appeals, but since she's now taken the child from the jurisdiction, we really don't know what will transpire."

Four children were born during Kamp's marriage to Vicki Jo Duckworth, including a daughter who was born about four years after Kamp had a vasectomy, the appellate opinion said.

Despite the fact that he allegedly knew he was not the girl's father, Kamp held himself out as such. When Kamp and Duckworth divorced in 1999 and Kamp was ordered to pay child support, he did not contest the girl's paternity.

It wasn't until July 2005, when the Department of Social Services filed a petition to increase Kamp's child support, that he argued that the girl was not his biological daughter, but rather the child of a man with whom Duckworth was having an affair in 1992.

Garrett County Circuit Court ordered a paternity test, which excluded Kamp as the father. The court ended Kamp's child support obligation for the girl.

DSS appealed, saying that Kamp could not contest paternity and was obligated to continue paying child support.

Assistant State's Attorney Joseph B. Spillman argued the case for the Garrett County Department of Social Services.

"The decision made it clear that once a parental obligation is legally established, the child support obligation continues unless parental rights are terminated," he said.

The court wrote, "By waiting until 2005 to assert a paternity challenge ... appellee slept on his rights."

Man Who Is Not Child's Father Must Pay Support - Baltimore News Story - WBAL Baltimore