On behalf of The Walters Law Group, Ltd. posted in Unmarried Couples on Tuesday, September 10, 2013.
In a case that could happen in Chicago or anywhere with trusting friends, a couple bilked everyone around them by claiming that the wife had miscarried twins. The fact was, there would never have been a child custody battle with this alleged mother and father, since the pregnancy was never real in the first place. The duo received money for funeral expenses and other supposed costs due to the nonexistent tragedy. They also received jail time once the scheme was uncovered.
One way that a pregnancy could have been faked so effectively is by buying a positive pregnancy test online. But one high-profile criminal defense attorney warned against it, saying that receiving any money because of the action constitutes theft by deception. She reminded would-be perpetrators that deceiving a person into giving them money is a crime.
Another expert said that it also would be a crime to trick someone into marriage by use of a falsified pregnancy test. For example, a woman showing her boyfriend a positive test that is not hers as a way of getting him to marry constitutes what is called fraud in the inducement or fraud in the inception. It was judged that buying a positive pregnancy test in order to use it as leverage would be an overt act, and possibly also conspiracy.
For parents of children who exist, however, child custody and child visitation are often of primary importance in a divorce. A Chicago attorney experienced in family law may be able to help clients work out child support, fathers’ rights and other contentious issues. Unmarried couples may be assisted as well by a lawyer who can bring legal knowledge to bear effectively on unwed couples’ child custody disputes.
Source: The Atlantic, “Faking a pregnancy is inadvisable; courts agree“, Keli Goff, September 06, 2013