Man Tries to Claim Paternity 37 Years Later (Full Episode) | Paternity Court

Hello, Your Honor. Hello. This is the case of Miles v.

Turner. Thank you, Jerome. Good day, everyone.

AUDIENCE: Good day, Judge. Mr Miles, you are in court today to prove to your 37-year-old daughter, Christine, that you are her father. RICHARD: Yes, ma'am.

You admit you initially denied paternity when she was a baby, but are here to right your wrongs. Yes, ma'am. But she now wants to prove you are not her biological father.

Are your ready to see the young woman you believe is your biological daughter for the first time in 21 years? Yes, ma'am. Jerome, please escort her into the courtroom.

JEROME: Gladly. To the left-hand side there. Okay.

JUDGE LAUREN: Thank you for being here today, Ms. Turner. CHRISTINE: Thank you.

Ms. Turner, you don't believe Mr Miles is your biological father? CHRISTINE: I do not.

Explain. I don't believe you are my father. My mom says you are not my father.

You've been absent for 37 years. Why? Why now?

Your mom said that I was your father. Why she changed her story, I have no idea. But that's not the truth.

And why now? I had the opportunity to be able to look for you 'cause I wanted to see who you are and who your family was. It took you 37 years to do that?

Back when all of this started, I was young and I was stupid. I mean, I was 17 years old when I met your mom. I had no idea what I was doing in life.

And I'm hanging with my friends, and that's when I met your mom. We got together and we were together like a couple of months. I loved your mom at the time.

I really did. But she got mad about something, I don't know. I don't know if it was because of whatever, but we ended up breaking.

. . breaking off, and.

. . a few months later, I'm in court.

I didn't even know she was pregnant. I didn't even know she had a baby until I got summons to go to court. And they said.

. . "Are you the father?

" And at that time, your mom was not just sleeping with me, she was with other guys. So, I said, "No. .

. "I'm not the father. I don't believe that I am.

" They asked your mom and she said, "Yeah, he is the father. " And about 15 minutes of the court session, I was then the father. At the time, I didn't believe it.

And so, Mr Miles, when you went to court, you were named the father, and so you became responsible for Ms. Turner. Responsible for child support, am I correct?

Yes, ma'am. I didn't know about the child support at that time. I was just named as a father.

You were named the legal father. RICHARD: Correct. Exactly.

Being named the legal father then makes you responsible for child support. But what you've outlined is that as a young man, as a 17-year-old man, you're 17, you're just out there, you're dating a young woman, you love her, you all get together, then you break up. You were never informed.

When she found out she was pregnant, she never called you to say, "I'm pregnant. " No, Judge. The only time I found out is when I.

. . I came by.

See, I left, and. . .

I went to Florida, and then I came back. When I came back, I got summons to go to court about being a father of a child that I had no idea that I even had. You never were told she was pregnant, you were never told that, "I'm about to have the baby.

" You were never told the baby's born? No, ma'am, not that I can remember. How long were you in a relationship with her mother?

I was. . .

About two months, is about how long we were together. I was living with her 'cause, I mean, like I said, I was 17 years old, I was couch surfing. I didn't have.

. . really have any place to live.

You know, when we got together, I moved in with her, and that's, you know, we do what we do in a relationship. Oh, were you in a committed relationship? Were you both committed to one another?

I was. I thought she was. But I found out she wasn't.

She was with two other guys that I know of. And you found that out. .

. RICHARD: The friends that I knew. Oh, they were friends you knew?

Yes, ma'am. JUDGE LAUREN: How did you find out she was also sleeping with them? They told me.

They told me. This was after. .

. after we had broken up. I didn't know that until after we had broken up.

And we were talking, uh, and. . .

They told me, "Yeah, we were also sleeping with her at the time. " which really upset me because I just had no idea that she was doing that. So, Ms.

Turner, did your mother ever tell you anything about the relationship with Mr Miles? No, Your Honor, not until recently, when I had asked her about Richard. And then she just kept on saying, "He's not your father.

"I don't know why he's doing this now after 37 years. " So who did you grow up believing was your biological father? I didn't, not until I was 16.

I didn't meet Richard until I was 16 years old. JUDGE LAUREN: So what was your. .

. One time. What was your childhood like growing up without a father?

CHRISTINE: It's hard. Um. .

. (SOBBING) I was really bad a student. I got in a lot of trouble.

Um, I went to foster care for four years. I went through lots of therapy. .

. to forget all this. And I'm back today.

But you're strong. (CHRISTINE SNIFFLING) CHRISTINE: I'm strong. And you're not alone, 'cause we're here with you.

CHRISTINE: Thank you. (SNIFFLES) JUDGE LAUREN: And so this was very difficult for you. Very difficult.

Very. And that's why you're having such a hard time believing this. Because you don't want to believe this and it's not true.

I don't wanna believe it. It doesn't take 37 years to find out you might have a daughter or you did have a daughter. Look, when I was 17 years old.

CHRISTINE: It doesn't take that. CHRISTINE: It doesn't matter. If I possibly had a child, I would not wait till 37 years old.

You're right. You're absolutely right. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) In 1992, we filed our taxes.

Taxes came back, and there was a letter. "You owe," like, "$28,000 in back child support. " And that just shocked me.

Like I said, I just. . .

I just didn't have a clue that that was even there. And you didn't try to find out then? I did, I did.

What did you do to try and find her, Mr Miles? Back then, there was no internet, no cell phones. All you had was people that you knew in telephone lines.

And all I had was my family, and nobody seemed to have no. . .

'Cause I wasn't there, I was in Alabama. I wasn't in Ohio, so I had no way of getting contact to anybody except through my family. Ms.

Turner, did you know that Mr Miles was paying child support for you all these years? I did at one point. Uh, my mom was staying with me.

And they had shipped a stack of. . .

stack of checks into my mailbox. My daughter apparently went to the mail and got the mail, and said. .

. "Grandma, your name is on this. " My mom opened it, and it was a stack of child support checks.

And I said. . .

"Where'd you get that from? "You never raised any of your children. " And I said.

. . "That should not be going to you.

" And she. . .

I didn't talk to her for a year after. I know that's hurtful to recall. It's okay.

So that was the point where you realized that Mr Miles. . .

Well, you didn't even know who it was. You just knew they were child support checks? Right.

Did you know where they came from? Well, I met Mr Miles one time when I was 16. And he came to my grandparents' house, and my grandparents actually let me go to stay the night with him and his wife.

I was never told about them until that very day. Nothing to prepare myself for the. .

. to how I was gonna feel. I thought we did, you know, hit it off pretty good.

And if I. . .

I think I asked her if she wanted to come live with us, that that was something that was gonna be possible. We were willing to take her in as ours. Absolutely.

And so you were ready in that moment to step up and be a dad? Yes, I was. JUDGE LAUREN: And you expressed that.

. . Absolutely.

to Ms. Turner? RICHARD: Yes, ma'am.

And is this the time when Ms. Turner came. .

. RICHARD: I did. .

. . and spent the night at your home?

RICHARD: Yes, ma'am. And so why didn't anything develop? CHRISTINE: Come 'bout it.

You drove me off and I never see you again. Well, it did. Well.

. . Never.

RICHARD: I had to get back home. Your experience, Ms. Turner, was.

. . "I arrive in this place.

This man takes me. "I spend time with him and his wife. He says he's my father.

"They dropped me back off at home "and I never hear from them again. " CHRISTINE: That's right. I didn't hear anything.

So why did you just disappear? I didn't. .

. You can't try harder? If it was my daughter, I would've tried, tried and tried.

I couldn't take another trip up there. I couldn't afford it. I had a family and bills, and rent, and all these.

. . If I was paying child support and I didn't know it for sure, my ass would've gotten like in a front of a judge.

KIMBERLY: We tried. It costed. .

. Oh, it was way. .

. It was like almost $1,000 to get a paternity test back then. I definitely didn't have that.

I didn't know what was going on. What about a telephone call? You didn't have a telephone?

KIMBERLY: We didn't have a number. All we had was the grandparents' number. Right.

RICHARD: And they would never answer. . .

Yes, ma'am. JUDGE LAUREN: Did you call? Never gotten an answer from them.

That's what I'm saying, it's like she just dropped off the face of the Earth. So you feel like he rejected you. And, Mr Miles, you feel like Ms.

Turner rejected you? RICHARD: Your Honor, we tried. My wife, she went to the.

. . That's why it was so important, 'cause she went.

. . and didn't have a.

. . Very similar situation.

a father, either. I had a father, I just didn't know my biological father until I was 18. CHRISTINE: Well, I didn't have any of that.

So you're lucky. KIMBERLY: I'm not lucky, I understand. And that's why I feel for you.

And I understand what she's going through, cause there is so much pain. (SNIFFLES) There is hope. "Oh, I wonder what he looks like.

"I just wanna be around him. " And then, when you do, and then, you're back alone, then you're mad. It's a roller coaster of emotions.

And that's why I tried to prepare him. She's gonna be upset because. .

. I'm more than upset. As a child, you can't help but not have.

. . Compassion.

KIMBERLY: Yeah. I understand. And that was well stated and exactly what we hear time and time again in this courtroom.

But do you both understand, Mr and Mr. Miles, do you both understand that her mother told her you were not her biological father? I didn't know that.

Because when we were in the court, she said I was the father. So after that, I assumed she would tell her that I was the father because that's what happened in court. Why would she name her after his mother?

And that's exactly the same thing I asked my mother. KIMBERLY: Why would she go after him for child support? He said he wanted to play dad.

That's her answer. She wouldn't even talk to him. Yeah, I was even with her.

. . That's what she said.

He was never with her. He is still yet to contact or speak to her mother since that day in court. Well, Ms.

Turner's mother was unable to be here today, but she did send a statement. And it reads as follows: "I met Rick at a bar, and our relationship was not too serious "and short term. "He moved in with me.

"Shortly after Rick and I split, "I started seeing another man and I became pregnant soon after. "When I add up the dates in my head, I was sleeping with that other man "around the time I conceived Christine. "She had to be conceived around May 1979, "I wasn't with Rick.

"Richard is not Christine's father, "and I wish she would leave it alone. " When you hear that statement read aloud, Mr Miles, and you hear the dates, does it change your opinion as to whether you believe Ms. Turner is your biological daughter?

No, it doesn't. If you do find out today Mr Miles is your biological father, are you willing to allow him to be in your life? It's.

. . hard.

It's hard after 37 years, and missing so much childhood with somebody that you could possibly move forward. How could you go and have wonderful conversations just in the past month, telling me how you wanted to have a relationship and how. .

. And everything was going great. And just all of a sudden, say, "I got new information.

" I said, "Okay, well, let me call you. " and you said no, and that was the end. You stopped right there.

Because I. . .

don't want to face failure from you again. She's scared, Mr Miles. And listen, your wife has spoke so eloquently today about this experience, having gone through it herself.

And Ms. Turner has a right to be fearful. RICHARD: She does.

Absolutely. With the childhood she has talked about and has testified to her experience, this has not been easy for her. And I know it hasn't been easy for you, too.

And the only way you found her is to come to this courtroom. KIMBERLY: Right. You had exhausted all of the means you felt like you had.

I did. And I think that alone. .

. Ms. Turner, you've been hurt a lot, but sometimes in life, we just have to see if people's actions match their intention.

And we have to take it one step at a time. Sometimes, baby steps. And I will say this, if you weren't worth it to him, he would not have called this court.

(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) I don't want you all to wait any longer. I have the results. Jerome, the envelope, please.

Here you go, Judge. These results were prepared by DNA Diagnostics, and they read as follows. .

. "In the case of Miles v. Turner.

. . "when it comes to 37-year-old.

. . "Christine Turner, "it has been determined by this court, "Mr Miles, you.

. . "are not the father.

" I'm very sorry. RICHARD: We've had a connection ever since the day that I met her at home. Because she was born and her mama said I was the father.

That's why I went and looked. I'm sorry, Christine. It's fine.

I hope you find your father. I'm not interested in finding my father. I will still be here for you if you wanna talk.

Thank you. Give her a hug. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) Ms.

Turner, I'm very sorry I could not give you the closure. . .

Both of you, I couldn't give you the answer. I wanted to be able to give you, so you all could continue on the path that you started many years ago. But.

. . you're a very strong young woman.

You've been through a lot. You were strong enough to stand here today, in this moment, and get the truth. And if you do have that strength to talk to your mother, and you'd like to have the other gentleman tested then he agrees to it or you need help, from this courtroom and my staff, you give us a call.

. . I will.

JUDGE LAUREN: . . .

and we'll be there to help you. CHRISTINE: Thank you. (SIGHS) We have counseling and resources for you both.

I wish you all the very best of luck. Court is adjourned.