In Kanye West’s song “Gold Digger,” he talks about a friend who made child support payments for 18 years and then found out that the baby was not his. Although this may seem like nothing more than something that could be talked about in a rap song, it is a reality for some. It is hard to believe that someone could be forced to make child support payments for a baby that was not theirs, but such is the case for a man named Frank Hatley.
Who is Frank Hatley?
Hatley, who is a fifty year old man from the state of Georgia who was in jail for one year for failing to pay child support. Two DNA tests that were done in the past nine years have shown that Hatley is not the father of the boy. Even after the first DNA test showed that he was not the father, Hatley was still being forced to make child support payments for the child.
In 2000, there was a DNA performed that showed that Frank Hatley was not related to the baby that he was being held responsible for. Hatley went to jail in 2008 for not paying the child support back payments that he owed. Another DNA test was performed this month which showed that Hatley is not related to the boy who he told was his child. Yahoo News reports that on July 15, 2009, Frank Hatley was released from jail when the same court judge who decided that Hatley was responsible for back payments now decided that he was “indigent.” The case has still not been fully resolved.
So, how does something like this happen? In 1987, the baby was born to a woman named Essie Lee Morrison. Morrison and Hatley had been in a relationship with one another. After the baby was born, the couple broke up without having ever married. Essie Lee Morrison told Frank Hatley that the baby was his son, however.
According to Yahoo News, during a hearing in 2001, it had been decided that Hatley would not need to make child support payments in the future. He was ordered to continue making back payments, which were worth $16,000. Prior to being laid off from work, Hatley was able to pay off $6,000. Overall, Hatley has paid at least $9,500 total for the child and most of the payments were made even after the first DNA test confirmed that he was not the father. As absurd and unbelievable as this may seem, it can certainly happen.
“Out of it all, I just feel like justice should be served for me in this case. I shouldn’t have to keep being punished for a child that is not mine,” Frank Hatley said in an interview with The Atlanta-Journal Constitution after he was released from jail (Yahoo News). It definitely seems as though this is a case of extreme injustice. It is hard to believe that a man could be put in jail for not making child support payments for a son that was not even his, especially when a 2000 DNA test confirmed that it was not.
