Although the present laws of individual states may be different, the need to determine proof-of-relationship is the lone common denominator in cases dealing with child support and custody. In the last mentioned case, the person claiming child-support is the one who needs to show proof-of-paternity; while in the previous example, the one who needs to prove a relationship with the child is the one desiring custody. While "reasonable" expectations and common law have traditionally been relied upon, a solid punch has been landed to the stomach of common practices for paternity claims acceptance by the science that backs up DNA testing.

Currently, a growing amount of stunned fathers are facing the surprising reality that one, if not more, of the children they believed were biologically theirs really aren't. Surprising revelations such as this frequently bring about a degree of mental trauma that not many men are ready to face; in a shockingly high number of instances, the man purported to be the father discovers, in addition to all else, he has been cheated into giving years of unnecessary child support payments equaling as much as tens-of-thousands of dollars.

The case of father Bert Riddick of California merits consideration. In 1991 as Riddick was getting ready for a business trip, reported the Los Angeles Times, his current fiance found a summons of the court that stated that his former girlfriend was claiming him as the father of her infant. After getting back, and not being able to go to the hearing because of his job responsibilities, he discovered that his salary was under garnishment; Riddick had basically been named as the father by default due to the old school tenet of "guilty-unless-proven-innocent".

Riddick's current family was quickly spiraling downward toward financial devastation. Quickly, he became helpless to provide for his expanding family, due to the chains of the wage garnishment ordered by the court. Riddick's family was evicted from the house they rented; his automobile was repossessed; and after her second child was born, it became necessary for his wife to go into welfare.

Their kids now shared a tiny single room in a small portion of a relatives house that the Riddicks were now shoe-horned into. What was finally proved to be a baseless paternity claim by a basic DNA home test, had turned the life of Bert Riddick and his family inside-out.

The Detroit News reported that in addition to paying approximately $80,000 in phony child support over a 15 year period, native Michigan man, Doug Richardson claimed to also have been forced to pay the way for the real father, after and during the relationship the man had with Richardson's former wife. Richardson stated; "I've been torn up over this for 15 years". I was forced into bankruptcy. There are back taxes that I owe. My life has been ruined." He now looks to put up a fight. Richardson, with the assistance of Murray Davis, the founder of DADS of Michigan, is working towards the support of laws that would ease the pain, such as demanding that courts would invalidate orders of child support in cases where paternity fraud was proven using aabb DNA tests.

This kind of legislation would incorporate Michigan- where in excess of 25% of the almost 10,000 non -married DNA paternity tests in 2005 were negative- with at least 12 other states that offer the same kind of legal safeguarding. For example, the law in Georgia permits ending the obligation of child support for men who can prove that they are not the father. Numerous other states are considering a measure such as the one in Maryland, where a paternity challenge has no time limit. It is a fact that in the world of paternity claims across the United States, the use of DNA paternity testing is beginning to be an important legal entity.

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