In a very unusual family law case, a New Jersey woman just found out that her two-year-old twins have two different fathers. New jersey judge rules twins have different fathers, by Haimy Assefa, cnn.com, May 8, 2015. The mother had filed a paternity action against the man she believed fathered both children and a DNA test proved he was only the father of one of the children. Apparently, the mother had sexual intercourse with two men within the same week and, while this medical phenomenon is extremely rare, it is not impossible. As a result of the paternity case, the mother now receives child support for one of her twins, but will have to file a paternity/child support action against the other father (assuming she knows who it is) in order to receive any child support for her other child.
This case brings up some interesting family law issues. Though they are twins, these two children will be treated in the eyes of the law as regular siblings. Everything from child support to custody will be treated separately as there are two different fathers to contend with. Once the paternity of the second father is established, the child support cases will remain separate.
Custody may be considered together, however. The children have been raised together their entire lives and it would likely not be in their best interests to split them up. As such, if either father wants custodial/visitation rights, the court would likely consider the relationship between the twins and make sure any visitation allowed them to be at their mother's together. For example, if the fathers each had visitation every other weekend, the court would likely order the visitation to be on the same weekend, so that the children could spend as much time together. Thus, while this case certainly presents some interesting issues, the court will still look at the best interests of the children in making any determinations regarding custody and visitation.