A husband who deceived with regard to the paternity of his children is to receive 23,650 euros in damages from his ex-wife, who for years concealed that he was not the biological father of their children. It was the Antwerp appeal court that decided on the amount of compensation the legal publication De Juristenkrant reports.
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Man who discovers children are not his gets 23,650 euros in damages in court
Colin Clapson
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The couple were married in 2007, and had two children. They separated in 2014. A few years later, in 2019, the husband discovered that his wife had had a lover during their marriage, and gradually began to doubt whether he was the biological father of their children. He then started legal proceedings to contest his paternity.
A DNA test was carried out and it showed that the man was indeed not the biological father of the two children. He gave up his co-parenting rights and claimed over 83,000 euros in damages, but the family court in Hasselt ruled against him. According to the court, the woman had not made a mistake in concealing her adultery and she herself may not have known who the children's father was.
The Hasselt family court also ruled that the man should not receive any compensation because he had always acted as the children's father and because he had also derived benefit from that relationship.
Fatherhood and childhood as an important part of identity
However, the appeal court has now vindicated the husband. The Antwerp appeal court ruled that the woman had acted in error by cheating on her husband. In general, an adulterous partner may not be expected to confess adultery if he or she hopes to save their marriage, the court said. But if children are born from that adulterous relationship, that changes everything. That’s because for the child, but also for the father, that knowledge is an important part of their identity. Moreover, his wife should have notified her husband if she had any doubts about his paternity.
According to the judge, the husband is also entitled to damages because, had he known from the children’s birth that he was not the biological father, then he would not have contributed towards their upbringing. Had he known about the adulterous relationship and its consequences, that would immediately have resulted in a breakdown in the relationship.
The husband had calculated the financial damage he incurred according to the monthly minimum cost of a child, as estimated by the Family Association, and claimed the repayment of half of that, from birth until the severance of contact with the children. The court found that excessive, as the husband was legally obliged to contribute to the marriage while partners were together. Therefore, he was awarded damages for the period from the actual separation onwards. That brought damages to 13,650 euros. The man was also awarded moral damages of 5,000 euros per child.