«IT SEEMS IT WAS A FRENCHMAN!»

Any adult and well-to-do man once begins to think about a follower. Thus a dream of a son arises, a dream of an heir, who could accept experience gained by previous generations and wisely run family wealth. In this attorney story, based on a real case from my legal practice, search of such an heir proved to be a full detective story. The names of the main characters are surely changed.

Once, an entrepreneur named Benjamin referred to me. According to his words he suffered from uneven character of his common-law wife – Daria. The latter gave birth to a baby boy, Benjamin’s son, and, being in after birth depression finished all kind of intercourses with our main character and to crown it all forbade him to see the baby. Benjamin already had had two daughters from previous marriages, but he wanted the son with a special feeling and was happy at hearing about his birth. During Daria’s pregnancy Benjamin took great care about her. At that moment the in love couple lived in two neighboring cottages on the Rublevo – Uspenskoe roadway, planning to live in Daria’s house after the baby birth. They arranged the baby’s room.

Well, everything went fine at first. Daria even SMSed Benjamin from the maternity hospital that she named their son Daniel. Then was a touching meeting after the departure from the maternity hospital – flowers, champagne, camera man, so on. Among those meeting a young mother were Benjamin and Daria’s parents – the baby’s grandmothers and grandfathers.

During this period Benjamin had to devote much of his time to his business, thus he spent a lot of time in business trips. And as a result, Daria’s patience finished. All of a sudden she stopped intercourse with Benjamin and never answered his phone calls. Strange as it may seem, but it coincided with Benjamin’s business bankruptcy and arising financial problems.

Our main character, whose heart was broken and who was depressed, in secret from Daria managed to meet with Daria’s teenage daughter from her previous marriage. And the latter, without mother’s permission showed Daniel’s birth certificate where another man was stated as the baby-boy’s father, Daria’s bodyguard under the surname of Petrov, who had been accompanying Daria for several years. More than that, the baby’s official name, according to the papers, wasn’t Daniel, the name was Alexander!

It was a severe blow for Benjamin!

I should comment on this point and say that according to the Russian Family Code if an officially unmarried woman gives birth to a baby, then on mutual appeal with the baby’s father, without any biological checks, the column “father” is filled with the name of the man who appealed. It was performed by Daria together with Petrov. And Benjamin thus turned out to be without any legal rights on Daniel – Alexander.

It was the story told to me by the disconsolate father, who was at all costs willing to prove his rights on the son.

The first of my questions was why bodyguard Petrov should have appealed as the baby’s father if he had absolutely no relations to this child. Benjamin explained me that Petrov is a silly man, who was secretly in love with his lady – boss, ready to perform any of her requests. And Daria, burning bridges, decided to make use of Petrov to finish their relations with Benjamin and deprive the latter of his rights on the baby.

I prepared corresponding evidence and initiated a legal process on contesting father filing to one of the Moscow courts. Defendants, joined for trial were Daria and Petrov.

Initially the process was a success. We easily proved that Benjamin and Daria used to spend much time together in the period of possible impregnation, submitting materials about mutual trips for vacations. After this we appealed for a DNA test, which could easily and unambiguously give the answer to the court, on the question asked by Benjamin. Daria had ignored court meetings all that time, especially resisting to the baby participating in the DNA expertise, which strengthened our hopes that the truth was with us.

Despite everything the DNA expertise took place. It showed that Benjamin was not the father of Daniil – Alexander. Concomitantly it became known to us that about a month before the court – assigned expertise took place, Daria and Petrov had visited that very same expertise institution without notifying us. According to their preliminary expertise results Petrov was the baby’s father. This circumstance warned Benjamin. He decided that these experts were bribed in advance and thus were involved in conspiracy aimed at depriving him of his only son.

We made another appeal about performing a new DNA expertise in another expertise institution.

The judge, however, decided that the expertise performed was capable and comprehensive evidence on the case matter and stated refusal to our appeal. But we never thought to give up. I prepared a cassation to that decision and the Moscow City Court agreed with my facts, so the case started a new circle of hearing with a new judge.

Benjamin during all this time was totally engulfed by the legal process forgetting about all of his other businesses. He started a full reconnaissance operation designed to find out what was happening in Daria’s country house, recruited people who worked for her (garden man, driver, house keeper, so on). When it all came for a new expertise in the repeated legal process, Benjamin decided to control everything himself. We chose a new expertise institution for the DNA test, stated it in court and the court assigned the expertise in this institution exactly. Benjamin managed to find approaches to the expert conducting the test and bribed him (this is my guess only, and it is not supported by any facts) so as the latter – Attention! – not take any other bribes from the opposite side and perform the expertise honorably and objectively.

When we received the second expertise results, Benjamin’s grief had no limits. The expertise showed that he was not Daniel – Alexander’s father. All of his efforts were in vain. Benjamin was torn apart with despair. Women’s devilry is limitless. Lived with one, got pregnant from the second and as father she stated the third.

We were sitting with Benjamin in my office and I asked him: — “Could this be Petrov?” “Nah, impossible!” – replied my dispirited client. After keeping silent for a moment, the could be father uttered the following phrase: “She went to France 9 months before the baby was born. It seems it was a Frenchman”.