Petitioner’s Knowledge the Child Was Not His When He Signed the Paternity Acknowledgment Precluded Vacation of the Acknowledgment

The Third Department noted that petitioner, in his petition to vacate his acknowledgment of paternity, stated that he signed the acknowledgment in spite of his being aware the child was not his. Therefore, his signature was not procured by fraud and the petition did not state a ground for vacation:

“Once 60 days have elapsed following the execution of an acknowledgment of paternity, the mother or acknowledged father may challenge that document in court only on the basis of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact, with the burden of proof on the party challenging the voluntary acknowledgment” … . To establish material mistake of fact, a party must demonstrate that such mistake “was truly material — i.e., substantial and fundamental to the nature of the [acknowledgment] — so as to entitle a party to void that document” … . To establish fraud, a petitioner must show that he or she justifiably relied on the respondent’s fraudulent statements or representations at the time the acknowledgment of paternity was signed … .

Here, in his petition to vacate the acknowledgment of paternity, petitioner alleged that his signature was procured either by material mistake of fact or fraud based upon respondent’s history of infidelity. However, the petition also explained that petitioner put his name on the birth certificate of the child “despite all parties acknowledging that it was [another man’s] child.” Because petitioner’s claim that he knew that he was not the father of the child negates a finding of fraud or material mistake of fact, as such findings are necessarily predicated on a lack of knowledge … , petitioner failed to plead sufficient facts constituting fraud or material mistake of fact … . Matter of Joshua AA. v Jessica BB., 2015 NY Slip Op 07718, 3rd Dept 10-22-15