A 45-year-old man is seeking a divorce from his wife of 16 years after a paternity test showed that he is not the biological father of any of his three daughters.
The man surnamed Chen from Jiangxi Province in eastern China became suspicious of his wife, surnamed Yu, last year. While Chen was working in another city to support his family, the couple spoke regularly until she began to avoid him, claiming that she wanted to work away from home.
On March 1, Chen tracked Yu to a hotel in eastern China where he saw her checking out with another man. He forgave her, but later decided to do a paternity test and discovered that none of the three girls he had been raising were his biological children.
“None of them is my own child,” Chen said.
After the revelation, Yu claimed that she had not cheated on her husband and that biological paternity is not important. She also said that her husband should not be seeking a divorce.
“Couples who are sterile adopt kids all the time,” Yu said. “Please try to empathize with me. The three children called him ‘dad’ for many years, but now he says the daughters are not his own. What is the difference between him and an animal?”
Chen’s lawyer said he should be granted a divorce if he believes that her actions “severely harmed their relationship.”
“When he applies for a divorce, not only would the law encourage him to ask his wife to reimburse support payments and other expenses he paid for the three children, but he could also seek damages for psychological suffering,” his lawyer added.
