A voluntary paternity acknowledgement that was later disproven by a DNA test can be voided as based on “a material mistake of fact,” even if the father had known all along that he might not be the father, Virginia’s Court of Appeals ruled in Matzuk v. Price (6/11/19). When the child was born, the mother and two men all knew that either man might be the father. Matzuk signed an acknowledgement and was treated as the father of the child. Five years later, the mother sued to have both men tested for paternity, and then to disestablish Matzuk’s paternity, as the test showed that the other man was the father. Under Virginia Code § 20-49.10, a court may set aside “any legal determination of paternity” if a DNA test shows that the legal father cannot actually be the father, except:
A court shall not grant relief from determination of paternity if the individual named as father (i) acknowledged paternity knowing he was not the father, (ii) adopted the child, or (iii) knew that the child was conceived through artificial insemination.
Virginia Code § 20-49.1(B)(2) says an acknowledgement of paternity:
shall be binding and conclusive unless, in a subsequent judicial proceeding, the person challenging the statement establishes that the statement resulted from fraud, duress or a material mistake of fact.
Matzuk, opposing the petition to disestablish paternity, said that when he signed the acknowledgement he “knew in my heart” that he was not the father, but admitted that actually, the facts he had known at the time indicated that he might or might not have been. The Court of Appeals emphasizes that there is all the difference in the world between knowing that you might not be the father, and knowing that you are not. And, interpreting the two statutes to be consistent instead of inconsistent, that makes Matzuk’s Acknowledgement “a material mistake of fact.”
The Court also emphasizes that not disestablishing the non-natural father’s paternity would violate the natural father’s right to a legal relationship.