ENDEAVOUR FORUM NEWSLETTER No. 120, NOVEMBER 2005

 

 

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PATERNITY FRAUD

 

Businessmen who are caught committing corporate fraud or insider trading are exposed and punished - with fines, jail or both - and rightly so.  However, women who commit paternity fraud, i.e. deceive their husbands about the paternity of “their” children, appear to get away with it and seem to have the Victorian Women’s Legal Service and the Child Support Agency on their side. Paternity fraud not only involves infidelity, but also deception at a most fundamental level of the marriage commitment and the community. Birth certificates need to record accurately who the biological parents are - not only for legal reasons, but because medical issues and issues of consanguinity may arise. Here is the story of the paternity fraud inflicted on Liam Magill, as told by his friend, Cheryl King.    - Babette Francis

Liam Magill married Meredith McClelland in 1988. Her uncle, Bryan Lockhardt McClelland conducted the marriage ceremony at Meredith’s home town and her family’s property Tallulah in Sea Lake Victoria. They were married for only four years. She gave birth to three children, in 1989, 1990 and 199l. Liam loved Meredith and he trusted her. He is a non-confrontational man who just kept believing Meredith about the unplanned pregnancies.

In 1992, when the youngest child was only 11 months old, Meredith left with the three children - saying she was “not happy”.  To this day Liam has never had an explanation for her leaving. He was and is still devastated by what took place all those years ago. He paid crippling child support payments for the three children from Nov 1992 until March 2000 when DNA tests showed that only the eldest child was his.  He spiralled into a deep depression. There was no recourse, no refund, no compensation, no apology, and no legal action available for Liam to take Meredith to task for her terrible deception. Meredith deceived her own children and she deceived Liam Magill.

However with the help of Vivien Mavropoulos, a young lawyer, Liam Magill made an attempt to try and set a precedent in this area of law, Paternity Fraud.  He succeeded when in November 2002 County Court Judge John Hanlon awarded him damages of $70,000 for the deceit he endured surrounding the paternity of the children who were fathered by a family friend D.R. who with his  wife, V.R. were friends of the Magills during their marriage.

In January 2003, Meredith’s legal team, fully funded by the Victorian Women’s Legal Service, appealed the decision. They then handed the case to the leading legal firm of Clayton UTZ who managed to have the judgment overturned in the Victorian Supreme Court in 2004.  Liam Magill who gave love and financial support to his wife and the three children has been left to pick up the pieces. Meredith  obtained a settlement of $40,000 in 1998 from Liam based on 4 years of marriage and three children. She lives in the home purchased with that money. It seems the courts will not hold the mother or her lover accountable for the deception that has ruined so many lives.  In the meantime the biological father, D.R. and his wife, V.R. left Victoria to live in Queensland.

Liam has a number of dedicated people, including Vivien Mavropoulos working unpaid to have the case heard in the High Court of Australia. These people feel that he should be vindicated and be compensated for his pain and his hurt.

International law states that every child has the right to his or her true identity.  It is deplorable that the Supreme Court of Victoria allowed Judge John Hanlon’s just decision to be overturned. It sends a message that paternity fraud is acceptable. One has to ask how the mother who enjoyed “tax payer funded representation” during the four-day trial in the County Court in 2002, can now engage one of the most expensive legal firms in Melbourne, Clayton UTZ, to run her appeal. Feminists who argue for special pleading for women, who fight to lower the bar of responsibility for women, do nothing for women’s equality. Equality demands equal rights and equal responsibilities.

In an example of obfuscation and ‘ blaming the victim’ ( a phrase often rightly used by women’s rights activists to describe, for example, the treatment the law sometimes inflicts on those who’ve experienced sexual assault) the Victorian Women’s Legal Service Center’s Joanna Fletcher called the Magill case an “ugly affair” that should not have been taken to court. Underlying her argument was the idea that the non-biological father should be held responsible for hurt the children experienced because of the litigation.

Does that mean both biological parents, Meredith McClelland-Magill and D. R are off the hook ? And that the poor man who gave his love, trust and hard- earned money is the guilty party?

Meredith apparently knew that D. R. was the father of the two youngest children. She tried to get him to acknowledge paternity. He refused, but Meredith still just kept up the affair anyway.  Her two younger children were lied to by the one person they should have been able to trust - their own mother.

In the meantime Liam Magill has received not one cent of government assistance in his quest for justice. Legal Aid have refused to help him because it is a civil case. None of the money Liam paid for the support of D.R’s children has been refunded. The Child Support Agency created an internal phantom debt to offset the years of overpayment for D.R.’s two children. The CSA has not asked D.R.to pay Liam anything, and they will not ask the mother to repay the money either. They state this in writing.

It is very important that the High Court finds that the ‘law of deceit’ does apply in Liam Magill’s case and that justice will be done.

 

 

Member Organisation, World Council for Life and Family

NGO in Special Consultative Status with ECOSOC of the UN