For more than six years, state Rep. Rod E. Wilt, Sugar Grove Township, R-17th District, has been among those in the Pennsylvania Legislature working to overturn a legal doctrine known as "presumption of paternity."

It would take Wilt only 374 more years of work to equal the amount of time that common-law principle has governed the courts in the commonwealth. Pennsylvania courts have always held that a man who acts as a child's father can be held financially responsible under a "presumption of paternity," even if it's later proved the child is not biologically his.

"It basically says, No. 1 that if you are married, No. 2 are able to produce a child, and No. 3 had access to your wife, meaning that you were living in the same house or weren't separated at the time of the birth, then no matter what, you are the father of that child; no matter what," Wilt said Monday. "You cannot overturn the 'presumption of paternity' using DNA in Pennsylvania."

At least it appeared it couldn't be done, until last week. That's when a small crack in that 380-year-old principle emerged: The Superior Court ruled William Doran didn't have to keep paying $400 a month in child support to his ex-wife after DNA tests showed he was not the biological father of his son, 12, who actually belonged to a man Doran's ex-wife, Pamela Smigiel, had an affair with. The ruling affirmed a June 13, 2002, order entered in the Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne County.

And while father's rights advocates might be heartened by the decision, Wilt cautioned the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will more than likely have the final say. And that, he said, has historically not boded well for "presumption of paternity" objectors.

"If the mother wants to appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, they'll overturn it," Wilt said. "It's been overturned every time."

And, Wilt added, it will continue to be overturned until the Legislature overrides the law.

"The Supreme Court is saying, 'Until the Legislature rewrites the presumption law, we have to go with what we have.' " Wilt said. "And if they don't overturn that Superior Court decision, my question would be 'What's changed?' I know they've heard it at least two times that I'm aware of and it's been a close decision both times."

Two of those instances involved constituents in the districts of Wilt and Rep. Dennis E. Leh, Berks County, R-130th District, who Wilt said are co-sponsoring a bill they hope will put the "presumption of paternity" issue to rest once and for all.

"We haven't been able to get it out of the Judiciary Committee the last two years because the chairman has held the bill up," said Wilt, who said the chairman was Rep. Tom Gannon, Delaware County, R-167th District. "We also don't have a commitment from the leadership in the Senate to run the bill even if we get it over there. And we don't want to send something over there and just let it die."

Wilt said when introducing similar bills he and other supporters had taken a more clearly defined approach. This time, however, he's "hopeful a more broad-based approach" will help the bill gain the necessary support to become law.

An ironic aside to the Pennsylvania law, he said, is DNA evidence can be utilized to prove paternity if the man and woman aren't married, but it can't be used if the couple is married.

What Wilt's and Leh's bill would do is change that.

"In paternity cases involving married couples, our bill would allow DNA to be an admissible piece of evidence," Wilt said. "And what that would do is throw the issue at the feet of the court. Now it would put it on them to rule, to either preclude or exclude child support and visitation rights, based on DNA evidence."

Georgia, Alabama, Maryland and Ohio have laws that protect fathers from false claims of paternity, even if the man was married to the woman, the Associated Press reported, and Carnell Smith, executive director of U.S. Citizens Against Paternity Fraud in Atlanta, said he hopes the Pennsylvania ruling helps gain a groundswell of support for others.

Doran, who was divorced from Smigiel in 1995, said he paid about $50,000 in child support, but the court denied the request for an award in the amount of the previously paid support.

You can e-mail Herald Political Writer Jeff Greenburg at: jgreenburg@sharonherald.com.