Ex-Husband or Past Lovers? Who is the Real Father? (Full Episode) | Paternity Court

Please be seated. Hello, Your Honor? Hello.

This is the case of Jennings v. Lynn. Thank you, Jerome.

Good day everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day. Mr Jennings, after raising your daughter Taylor for 26 years, from diapers to adulthood and never doubting paternity of your little girl, you are furious that you had to drag your ex-wife to court because she is now claiming you are not her daughter's biological father.

Is that correct? Yes, Your Honor. Ms.

Lynn, you admit your ex-husband believed he is Taylor's father, but claim your daughter deserves the truth and the fact is her daddy is not her biological father. Is that correct? Yes, Your Honor.

So, Mr Jennings, what do you believe is the real reason Ms. Lynn is now saying you aren't the father? Just out of spite, jealousy.

Spite. Are you spiteful, Ms. Lynn?

No. First and foremost, if I was spiteful, I wouldn't be standing here right now. 'Cause my daughter asked me to be here.

So, why. . .

Why now? His wife told her. What happened?

She came to me and asked me if he was her dad because she said her step-mother told her that he was not. Did your step-mother tell you that, Taylor? I don't think so.

No. JUDGE LAKE: So, that's not true? What I remember is, they were arguing.

And I remember her husband was driving. I remember the exact song and she said that he's not my dad. That is what I remember.

How old were you then? Twelve or thirteen. And Mr Jennings, you say this is out of spite.

When did you come to hear you were not Taylor's biological father? I've heard it over the years n'all Taylor talks to me. I've been there for her all her life that I don't do a DNA test at any time for her.

JUDGE LAKE: And you have no doubts all of these years. You said 26 years, this has been your baby girl. You've changed diapers, you've done whatever a father should do and you love her.

You've never had a doubt? I've never had a doubt. You and Mr Jennings were married at one time?

Yes. Tell me about the relationship? We wanted to be together.

We wanted to get married. All right, I was very young. My parents did not want us together at all.

It was strictly forbidden. I ran away from home to be with him and the only way we could be together and get married without my parent's signature was I had to be pregnant. By Georgia law.

So, you all as teenagers concocted a scheme to be able to get married? In order for us to get married at my age without my parent's signature, I had to be pregnant. So, you tried to get pregnant on purpose by Mr Jennings?

Yes, Ma'am, I did. Because you wanted to marry him that bad? Yes, ma'am I did, and I don't regret it and I'd do it again.

Because my daughter came from that. And that's the best thing that ever happened to me. And so, if you say you don't regret it, and that's the best thing that ever happened to you your daughter came of it, then why do you question he's your daughter's father?

He wasn't the only one I was sleeping with in order for me to get pregnant to be with him. And he knew this then. Wait a minute.

Wait a minute. You all developed a scheme as teenagers to get pregnant, so that you can get married but you slept with more than one guy to make sure you got pregnant? Yes, I did.

I wanted to marry him that badly. This was agreed upon? It was something that he was well aware of.

JUDGE LAKE: Mr Jennings, are you aware of this? I know nothin' about, nobody else know. So, Mr Jennings, you submitted a timeline to the court.

I wanna understand. Yes, I did. Please, step up, and explain this timeline.

I wanna understand this. We got together, her parents forbid us being together, so, we leave and we go out of state. So, you moved to Alabama?

Back to where I was when I was in kindergarten. The law don't come up there. They know better than to come on top of the mountain up there, so there was no chance to get caught.

Oh, you went up on top of the mountain where the law don't come? JENNINGS: Yeah. The law would not come up there.

They've been shot at so many times up there. Make sure I don't go up on that mountain. Okay, so you went up on that mountain 'cause you knew you all would be.

. . You'd be up there, you went on up there?

'Cause nobody find us. Two teenagers. You all making this up?

This is our plan to be together? Yeah, sometime in June, we came back down to Georgia. June the 21st, she was pregnant.

We got everything, went to courthouse got married. February, the 14th, Taylor was born. Did you discover she was pregnant in Georgia or did you discover she was pregnant on the mountain?

I think we was back in Georgia when we found out. Which do you say, Ms. Lynn?

We were in Georgia when I found out I was pregnant. JUDGE LAKE: You were in Georgia when you found out you were pregnant. All right, so came back to Georgia, you're pregnant in June 1990.

Then you all were able to get married? Yes. So, Ms.

Lynn, I mean, from both of your testimony. . .

It makes sense, you know the story is definitely a teenage story but it makes sense you all planned this, you got pregnant, you were able to get married and you had the baby. Yes, ma'am. How did the other man get in this?

No, he got the dates wrong. JUDGE LAKE: And you never knew Mr Jennings? I never knew that she was messing around with nobody other than me.

JUDGE LAKE: Did he know you were messing around? Yes, he did. Because my ex, before him.

. . Mr Jennings, please step back to the podium.

. . .

is one of the possibilities to be her father. He knows this because they hate each other with a passion. Did the ex know that you were trying to get pregnant so you could marry, Mr Jennings?

He knew I was trying to get pregnant. He never asked for any other details. Of course not.

We were in Alabama between February and mid-March. He's got it listed as April and May. That's not true.

So, wait, when did you get married? It says June 21st. LYNN: That's correct.

JUDGE LAKE: Is that true? Does anybody have proof of that? Bring up.

I do. JUDGE LAKE: Jerome, let me see that, please. So you've presented to the court a marriage certificate, certifies that George Howard Jennings and Brandy Lynn Taylor were united on the 21st day of June 1990.

But you said, in order to get married you had to prove you were pregnant. Do you have anything proving when you. .

. Yes, ma'am, I do. JUDGE LAKE: All right.

And so this is a letter from the Health Department. "It is to certify that Brandy Taylor was given a pregnancy test "on June 13, 1990, "and the results were positive. " So.

. . If I ain't the father, then the other two, they ain't neither.

It's gonna be somebody else. I mean, it's that simple. JUDGE LAKE: Because your testimony is that during the time Taylor was conceived, you know you were with Ms.

Lynn? JENNINGS: Yes. And you know that you were not in Georgia, you were in Alabama.

In Alabama. JUDGE LAKE: That is your belief? But Ms.

Lynn, you testify that these dates are wrong? Right. We were in Georgia when I conceived her, not Alabama.

How long did you stay married, first of all? Six years two months. JUDGE LAKE: Six years two months.

All right. And for those entire six years and two months, she believed Mr Jennings was her biological father. Yes.

Mr Jennings, did you believe she was your biological child? Yeah. JUDGE LAKE: Ms.

Lynn, did you ever tell Mr Jennings that you had also slept with other men or did you just. . .

Yes, ma'am, and he was well aware. 'Cause when Taylor was about, a month and-a-half two-months-old. One of the potential fathers.

. . JUDGE LAKE: Okay.

. . .

we sat down with him and discussed having a DNA test done then. But it was never done. So he can't say he did not know.

Do you remember that conversation, Mr Jennings? Uh, yes. But as far as knowing she was trying to, um, get pregnant with other people n'all, I know nothing about that.

If I'd have known she'd been sleeping with anybody else, I'd might not even have known Taylor. Because ain't no way that she's gonna sleep with somebody else and get pregnant to marry me. And so when you heard that conversation what were your thoughts?

I mean, at that point this would have been the first time you heard that there was a question as to whether or not you were Taylor's biological father. That's when everything goes downhill. JUDGE LAKE: That's when the relationship goes downhill.

That's when it, uh, pretty much ends then. So, Ms. Lynn, did the other guy believe he was Taylor's biological father?

His exact words were he didn't care. (AUDIENCE GASPS) And so, at that point, Mr Jennings says the relationship begins to go downhill. Is that true?

No, we had another child after that. JUDGE LAKE: You did? Yes.

We have another daughter. JUDGE LAKE: But there's no question as to the paternity of that child? Oh, no, she's his or God's.

(AUDIENCE CHUCKLES) And so, why, why did it take 26 years to get this answer for Taylor? That I can't answer. I don't know.

Because your testimony is that you've been open to get a DNA test from the very beginning because you knew there was more than one possibility. Yes, ma'am. Is Mr Jennings even a possibility?

Yes. Okay. And Taylor, this has always been daddy to you?

Yes. This is your daddy. Yes, Your Honor.

My elder. JUDGE LAKE: And so, at 13, you heard the words come out of your mother's mouth that Mr Jennings was not your biological father? Yes.

What were you thinking? What was your thought? Like, I felt like my whole life was a lie.

Like, it had, my whole life was like, over. You know? Did you say something?

Um, to my dad and my stepmom, 'cause that's where I was dropped off at. So, of course they comfort me. And my aunt was like, "I was around when your mom got pregnant, "so he is your dad.

" My aunt. And so, it's like, they like comfort me to think, but I'm like, "My whole life is over 'cause "if, you know, a man finds out he might not be the dad "he's not gonna, most of the times, he's not gonna stay. " You know?

Oh, and at 13 years old, you said to yourself, "Oh, I'm gonna lose my dad, he's not gonna stay "because he's not my biological father. " Yeah, like, I was gonna, my whole life was like. .

. Over. A lie, you know?

And these are pictures of you and your dad. JUDGE LAKE: And so when you got to your family member's house. They tried to reassure you, "No, no, no.

This is your father. " TAYLOR: Yes, Your Honor. And at that moment, did you always have it in the back of your mind or did you just let it go?

I've always had it in the back of my mind. Like, that's why I'm here now. (CHUCKLES) JUDGE LAKE: So, when did you start acting on that.

. . Notion you had, you couldn't let go of this notion.

Um, when I was 23. And what did you do? Uh, I asked her.

It was Thanksgiving or Christmas I asked her 'cause, the other guy, I guess, like, looks-wise. . .

Looks-wise it's possible, I guess, you know, like. . .

And then so I'd asked her and she didn't tell me anything. She went to her room. And so I said, "Okay, well, I'm gonna go through her.

. . " People I remember as being her childhood friends.

And see if any of them know who. . .

The other possibilities could be. So, at the time I'm living in Tennessee. So I go through her friends list (STUTTERING) I.

. . Like, think of people that were around.

And the first person I write I ask him and he says, "It's me. " Those were his exact words. Really?

And then he, uh. . .

Wanted to meet up for dinner. We had. .

. I came back to Georgia, met up for dinner. Um, we talked for a while but then had a falling out.

So now we don't speak at all. So, you go on your mom's social media page, and start looking through her friends. Yes, and also people that I can remember coming around when I was a kid or that I heard about as a kid that were her friends growing up.

And so you're basically on a search and you're saying, "I want to find my dad. "I want to see who is my biological father. " Yes, I want to see, like, the other part, you know?

Like, what if this isn't it, what is? You know? And the first person I wrote, that's what they said.

He said, "It's me. " Yes. Met for dinner.

Yes. Did you tell your mom this? Yes.

JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Lynn, you knew all about this when she met up with this other man for dinner? After the fact.

JUDGE LAKE: After the fact. Yes, ma'am. And the man she reached out to was she correct and was he correct?

Was he one of the possibilities? LYNN: Yes. JUDGE LAKE: He was.

Yes. And do you believe he is Taylor's biological father? I honestly don't know, but she does look like him.

TAYLOR: There's. . .

This is the only thing, like, with the way we look alike like we got the same nose shapes same toe shapes. We've both got kind of like, plump lips. We kind of favor.

But the other guy, the only thing that I see really is that we've both got a big forehead. (CHUCKLES) And that we both have brown eyes. So, Ms.

Lynn, you said there were also other possibilities. One other. JUDGE LAKE: One other.

Did you ever find that possibility as well? Um, I've seen a picture on Facebook, but he looks nothing, nothing like me. JUDGE LAKE: You didn't feel like that was the.

. . Blonde hair, blue eyes.

Different kind of nose, longer face, like. . .

No. I mean, nothing. Then the other one, we had tried to get him to be here.

And he didn't want to be here, so. . .

JUDGE LAKE: Okay. That's why he's not here. These results truly mean everything to you today then.

TAYLOR: Yes. JENNINGS: Yes. It's a make or break kind of thing, you know?

JUDGE LAKE: I understand. I have those results for you. Jerome.

These results were prepared by DNA diagnostics and they read as follows. . .

In the case of Jennings v. Lynn, when it comes to 26-year-old, Taylor Martini, it has been determined by this court, Mr Jennings, you. .

. Are not the father. (AUDIENCE GROANS) JUDGE LAKE: I'm very sorry, Taylor.

I know this was not the news you wanted. (SNIFFLES) Taylor, just remember this, baby, it takes more than having a baby to be a parent. He's always been your daddy, he's always gonna be your daddy.

Yeah, but if it was right in the first way we wouldn't even be here. You know? That's right, baby.

Why would you purposely do something that could ruin a life, you know? And it might be like, yeah, I'm your kid. But I'm not his kid now, so, it's like, it's like, it doesn't affect just you.

It's like, you did something selfish, so now I have to suffer the consequences. My whole life, that I thought I knew, is a lie because of selfishness. Taylor, usually I sit here in this seat and I am a voice for the child or the person that's been affected by this paternity secret but I could not have said it any better than what you have expressed.

But what I do want you to understand and to think about this entire scheme that was concocted was through the mind of a child. She was a kid. This is gonna be a conversation you're gonna have to have with your mother to probably better understand why you're in this position.

We say in this courtroom, constantly, it takes DNA to be a father, but it takes love to be a daddy. You have your daddy. You have yet another blessing.

A man that loves you, claims you. You're his daughter, he's your daddy. You have all of that.

So I know this wasn't the answer that you wanted, but at the same time, you are very blessed and I wish you every happiness as you go forward and luck in your search. Court is adjourned.