A man recently made headlines for a unique legal case where he sought to disavow paternity of his twin daughters, asserting his inability to impregnate a woman. The Family Court of New Zealand had initially ruled in his favor earlier this year, but details of the case have only come to light recently, as reported by the NZ Herald.
This unusual situation unfolded after the man and his ex-wife, who had separated two years prior and officially divorced three months ago, decided to address the matter of his parental responsibility for their twin daughters. The man was keen to have his name removed from the twins’ birth certificates, while his former spouse argued that he was attempting to evade child-rearing responsibilities. The man contended that he was motivated by a desire to protect his honor.
The backstory of this complex case involved the couple’s previous history of adopting children together. However, the man had undergone a vasectomy approximately 12 years before the birth of the twins, who are now teenagers. During the twins’ conception, the former couple had engaged in a threesome with another man, believed to be the biological father of the twins. The twins’ mother maintained that their involvement with the second man was aimed at aiding her in becoming pregnant, an assertion that her ex-husband disputed.
Judge Traicee McKenzie, in her decision, pointed out the disagreement between the parties regarding the nature of their involvement with the second man during the pregnancy. She mentioned, “Whether this was for fun or to have a baby is still a matter of disagreement, but the fact is that the parties were in this arrangement at the time of the pregnancy,” as reported by the NZ Herald.
Despite the man’s disbelief in his paternity, the twins bore his last name and his name was listed on their birth certificates, a situation he sought to rectify. The twins’ mother highlighted the man’s active role in their lives, including taking them on vacations and giving them gifts, with the girls affectionately calling him ‘Dad.’
