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Diva
updated 24 Dec 2010, 10:19
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Wed, Jan 20, 2010
The Straits Times
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Not biological dad? He still has parental rights
by K. C. Vijayan & Teh Joo Lin

A SINGAPOREAN woman may fail to block her ex-husband's access to her two children - even if she can prove he is not their biological father.

She had fled the United States with her sons, a pair of 10-year-old twins, to come back here to join hands with the children's biological father to make an application to the Family Court for her to be granted sole custody of the boys.

But the court here has ruled that because the twins were born while she was married, her ex-husband is technically their father. So he has a right to have access to them.

That he is not their biological father might well be irrelevant.

These details emerged in a closed-door hearing yesterday in the Family Court, where written judgment grounds were issued.

Under the Children and Young Persons Act, none of the parties can be named to protect the identities of the children, who hold US and Singapore passports.

Meanwhile, the woman's former husband is insisting that he has as much right as her to the children, and has asked the Family Court here to allow him to intervene as a party seeking to set aside the Singapore application.

With her having breached a US court order on custody of the children, who she is supposed to share with her former husband, he also wants a hearing to seek court approval for the boys to be sent back to his care, in compliance with the Los Angeles court order.

Yesterday, he won a victory of sorts.

District Judge Jen Koh upheld his right to intervene in the court order application jointly sought by the woman and the biological father. She also threw out the woman's move to strike out the ex-husband's suit, which means his suit will now go for a full hearing.

The judge ruled that the ex-husband had a right to the children, although he is not their biological father. This comes from the twins having been born while he was married to the woman.

The pair wed in November 1999. In 2005, divorce proceedings started.

The boys are thus his legitimate children - unless it can be proved that the couple had no access to each other at the time she became pregnant.

But, Judge Koh noted, the woman had not raised the access issue in her request to the Family Court for sole custody.

The woman's strategy was, rather, to use the result of a paternity test taken by the biological father to rule out her ex-husband as the father.

But this cannot hold here because the law in Singapore does not provide for the test to be used this way.

And, Judge Koh further noted, two days have already been set aside for a trial on the paternity issue in the US, the trial from which she had fled.

'On all scores, the twin boys are children of the marriage, even if the marriage had been annulled and even if the marriage is not valid,' Judge Koh said.

The woman will now have to convince the Family Court here at a full hearing why the case should not go to the US.

Judge Koh said the woman had commenced proceedings to challenge her ex-husband's custody rights in the US, and in so doing, had submitted to the jurisdiction in the US.

Among other things, the woman said through her lawyer that the twins did not want to see her ex-husband.

To this, Judge Koh pointed out that the woman's ex-husband was the only dad the twins have known, and they spent a good half of their lives in the US, compared to only four months here.

The ex-husband's lawyer here, Mr Foo Say Tun, argued that the man was named as the father in the twins' birth certificates.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.

readers' comments
i have this feeling that the ex-husband is not exactly about the kids since they are biological not his but felt insulted and wanted a revenge.

i hope i am wrong but if my guess is right, it is another typical example of kids being affected most by two irrational adults. (3 in this case)

i hope the ex-husband is doing with a real good intention of caring the kids.

I commented this way by putting myself as a man and to know that my kids are not mine but due to wife straying, i could be irrationale about the kids well being and focusing on attacking in retaliation on what my ex-wife did to me.

Regardless, please do sit back and take action based on the well being of the kids and with a rational and clear .....
Posted by ItsMyView on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 at 11:41 AM
I pity the ex-husband for being deceived by such a scheming and conniving women.
Posted by people on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 at 11:27 AM
OMG she is another stray dog.... stray all the way to USA with the set of pariahs... just to get with her ex-hubby is totally insane.
Posted by shanghaitang on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 at 10:36 AM
Another sad epic in the making. The woman should set her goal right when she re-marry for the 2nd time since the 1st was a failure, unless she choose to remain as a single for the rest of her life. Hope that she pick her perfect man when she re-marry for the 3rd time. Marriage is not a commodity and was considered scred in the past. You will have to face the prejudice and criticisms of society if you marry 1 thousand times. Any difference from those gals who are working in the red light areas ? Only the marriage certificate or licence ?
Posted by mountaingoat on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 at 10:27 AM
back in the 60s, in my kampong, i noticed that the stray dogs (*****) tends to move from one kampong to another with puppies all around, its difficult for me as a kid to link which their biological fathers were.
Posted by antisillypor on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 at 10:16 AM
When you play with fire, you ought to expect to be burnt. Totally agree with the view of "tintin". The vicious lady's case becomes weaker.
Posted by malinablu on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 at 09:47 AM
sigh....hate this kind of scheming woman, and pity the ex-husband. Looks like after making use of him to support her during prenancy, giving birth and the early years of the kids, now she wants to get rid of him by proving that he's not the biological father. Very unfair and hurting to him.
Posted by tintin on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 at 09:13 AM

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