An Australian mother has been forced to pay her ex-husband almost $13,000 in child support after he secretly had a DNA test done that confirmed he was not the father of his 14-year-old son.
The father, who was not named to protect the identity of the child, said he took the boy for the test because his own mother had raised doubts about his parentage since his child was four-years-old, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The father, who married the boy's mother in 1984, said he also once caught his ex in a compromising position with a neighbour, the Federal Magistrates Court heard.
The man separated from the boy's mother in January 2009 and has since cut off all contact with the teen, who was born in 1995.
The court heard the teenager still thought of the man as his father.
"Effectively, he is now without a father, through no fault of his own," Magistrate Stephen Scarlett said.
"The applicant's desire to find out the truth about the child's paternity will result in a financial benefit to him, at the expense of collateral damage to the child."
The mother has been ordered to pay $12,969.
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