Man Denied Right To Child Born Of Affair
MOUNT CLEMENS (WWJ/AP) - A man seeking custody of a child born to a married woman has lost at the Michigan appeals court in a case linked to a new law that's intended to give men more rights.
The court says Aaron Grimes still can't intervene because he knew that Shawnita Van Hook-Williams was married during their affair. Michigan recognizes a woman's husband as the legal parent even if he's not the biological father.
The appeals court agreed Friday with a Macomb County judge.
The court says it's "refreshing" to see Grimes try to establish a relationship with the 2-year-old child, but he has no constitutional right to claim paternity.
A 2012 law gave men the right to court-ordered DNA testing to establish paternity — but there still are hurdles when the mother is married to another man.
The previous 1956 law presumed that a woman's husband is the father of her children, automatically making the husband responsible for their support and denying parental rights to the biological father.
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