HE SAYS HE'S THE BIOLOGICAL FATHER, BUT LAW SAYS MATRIMONY TRUMPS DNA: From the Grand Rapids Press

After his girlfriend became pregnant, Bill Numerick Jr. looked forward to being a father.

He said he accompanied her to doctor appointments and took a parenting class.

But early in her pregnancy, she ended their relationship and married someone else. Heather Smith, now 22, had a boy, Caleb, on May 6, 2003. Numerick sent a teddy bear to the hospital.

Nearly two years later, he has not seen the boy he considers his son. By law, Numerick, 26, is not the father.

He filed what amounts to a reverse paternity lawsuit, asking that the child's mother be forced to acknowledge him as a father, allow visitation and accept child support.

But Numerick has no right to question paternity, a judge ruled, because the baby was not born out of wedlock. The state Court of Appeals recently upheld the trial-court decision.

State paternity law -- sometimes called the Bastardy Statute, or Lord Mansfield's Rule, its British common-law origin -- maintains that a child born into a marriage is a product of that marriage. The idea is, supporters of the law say, a child is best born to a married mother and father. Such a presumption helps protect the sanctity of marriage, they say.

However, with the advent of DNA testing and changing social mores, advocates for fathers say changes are needed -- for the child's welfare and for the biological father's rights.

"That a woman can still control, essentially, who becomes the father of the child by simply marrying somebody else isn't fair," said Numerick's attorney, Craig Elhart.

Smith's attorney, Steven Fox, said paternity law was clear, for good reason. If paternity tests were allowed in such cases, it could harm the child and family and the child's relationship with a legal father, he said. ...

This kind of legal battle is familiar locally. Numerick is taking on a fight lost by a Rockford man. In that case, DNA tests showed the man was the biological father of a girl born during an extramarital relationship.

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