Paternity Presumption

The Mississippi Court of Appeals handed down In the Interest of a Minor, V.D.W.:  J.S.W. v. A.W.R. and T. J. S.  located here.  The facts of the case are interesting and are a potential nightmare to handle in trial.  Here is the short version.  Couple is married and have two children.  Couple divorces.  In a later custody modification hearing, it is discovered that one of the minor children is not the ex-husband's child.  The natural father then appears to file for custody.  The chancellors awards custody of the disputed minor child to the mother and finds that the father who has raised the child as his own is a third party to the case and not entitled to the natural parent presumption.  As such, the defrauded father was not entitled to an Albright analysis to determine what was in the child's best interest.  On appeal, the Court of Appeals disagreed and stated that when a parent raises the child as his own, they are acting in loco parentis and this rebuts the natural parent presumption.  What this had the practical effect of doing is putting the defrauded father in the identical position as the biological father on equal playing field.  This issue comes up more than one would think and this case potentially has far reaching implications outside of the facts of the case.