The Legal Issues 167
Paternity
A father is a banker provided by nature.
—French proverb
In Hawai‘i, about one-third of all children are born out of wed-
lock. In fact, there has been a significant increase in the rate at
which kids are being born to unwed parents even while birth
rates overall are declining. Issues relating to custody and child
support for these kids are processed through the family court
system on its rapidly expanding paternity calendar.
Are you my daddy? Gone are the days when a guy can simply go
out, spawn a kid out of wedlock, and then disappear. Any unwed
mother who applies for welfare nowadays will be compelled to
name the alleged natural father as a prerequisite to getting her
welfare payments. If she’s not sure who the real dad is, then she
will be expected to make her best educated guess (perhaps even
naming several different potential candidates).
Claiming responsibility for kids. If necessary, the city or state attor-
ney will summon each and every one of the possible fathers for
genetic DNA tests that can establish who the true father is with
virtual certainty. Next, an order will be filed to have the proven
father pay child support. Conversely, once he has been legally
established to be the natural father, this new dad can demand to
have visitation rights with his child or even seek to take primary
custody.
Common-Law Marriage/Palimony
We want a playmate we can own.
—Jules Feiffer
Over the last few decades, we have witnessed a vast increase in
the number of couples who deliberately choose to simply live
together without getting married. The obvious question: does liv-
ing together confer any quasi-marital rights? In Hawai‘i, which
does not recognize common-law marriages, the answer is still
no. Thirteen other states, however, do recognize common-law