Legal Remedies for Misrepresentation of Paternity in Marriage: Day v. Heller, 653 N.W.2D 475 (Neb. 2002)
![handle is hein.journals/wjcfad4 and id is 471 raw text is: LEGAL REMEDIES FOR MISREPRESENTATION OF
PATERNITY IN MARRIAGE: DAY V. HELLER, 653
N.W.2D 475 (NEB. 2002)
David V. Chipman
I. INTRODUCTION
It is natural for a father to look at his child and want to see
himself. Conceivably, the child has his eyes, his hair color, or his
build. Perhaps the child does not look like the father; however, the
father still can see a family resemblance as the child looks just like his
maternal grandfather. Or does he? For almost twelve years, Robert
Day probably believed the son, Adam Robert, born to his wife only ten
months after they were married, carried some type of genetic
resemblance. 1
It seems that Robert should have had good reason to believe the
child born during his marriage was his own. Even Nebraska law
affirmatively states, [A] child born during wedlock is presumed to be
the legitimate offspring of the married parties.2 Nevertheless, eight
years after divorcing Adam's mother, Robin Heller, paying $270 per
month in child support, and providing medical insurance coverage for
Adam, Robert got the results of a DNA test that showed a zero percent
probability that he was the biological father of Adam.3 Perhaps even
more shocking to Robert was the fact that in Nebraska, public policy
prohibited him from redressing any of the injuries he suffered at the
hands of Robin by her concealment of Adam's paternity.4
* B.S., 1999, Nebraska Wesleyan University; M.B.A., 2002, Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University; J.D. expected, May 2005, University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
Special thanks to Sarah Hoyt for her editing of this article.
1. Day v. Heller, 653 N.W.2d 475,477 (Neb. 2002).
2. Quintela v. Quintela, 544 N.W.2d 111, 115 (Neb. App. 1996).
3. Day, 653 N.W.2d at 477.
4. Id. at 482.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/wjcfad4&div=38&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Legal Remedies for Misrepresentation of Paternity in Marriage: Day v. Heller, 653 N.W.2D 475 (Neb. 2002)
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