A Brazilian judge ordered a pair of male identical twins to pay child support to a child whose paternity could not be determined after they both refused to assume responsibility and a DNA test proved inconclusive because of their genetic similarity.

Valeria, the mother of the child, originally filed a lawsuit for recognition of paternity against just one of the two twins, Fernando, with whom she believes she had a short romantic relationship with. He underwent a DNA test which showed that there was a 99.9% probability that he was the father of the child. However, after seeing the result, Fernando continued to deny that he had fathered the girl, claiming instead that it had been his identical twin brother, Fabricio. The man’s twin was also ordered to take the DNA test, which yielded the same result as Fernando’s, because the two have virtually the same genetic code. Left with no option, the judge ordered both of them to pay child support to the same child.

Photo: JA2 video screengrab

This case has been in court since August 2017, but last month, Judge Filipe Luís Peruca, in the Brazilian state of Goiás, ruled that because the two men continued to blame each other in a blatant attempt to escape responsibility they would both need to pay 30% of the minimum wage as child support. His decision was also influenced by the fact that evidence presented during the hearings showed that the twins had previously leveraged their uncanny resemblance to impersonate each other and date as many women as possible, as well as defend one another when accused of cheating by their girlfriends.

“One of the brothers, in bad faith, seeks to conceal the fact that he is the father,” the judge said. “Such behavior, of course, should not be tolerated by the law, on the contrary, it must be repressed, especially in the case in which the defendants seek to benefit from it, impairing the plaintiff’s right to recognition of biological paternity, of a constitutional, inalienable and unavailable right intrinsically linked to the dignity of the human person.”

According to the Brazil’s Justice Department, the chances of identifying the father in this case would be higher if the two brothers agreed to undergo more thorough genetic testing, called the Twin Tests, but even that may not prove accurate enough. In order to get conclusive paternity evidence, one of the twins would have to present a mutation that the other one does not. Unfortunately, neither party involved in litigation has the financial means to pay for the Twins Test, which reportedly costs R$ 60,000 ($15,500).

Photo: Brazilian Court of Justice

In her testimony, Valeria said that she started dating one of the brothers, who she assumed was Fernando, after meeting him at a party. At least the man introduced himself as Fernando, although looking back on the day they met, she remembered he rode a yellow motorcycle he said was Fabricio’s. After hearing about the twins impersonating each other in the past, there’s no way for her to know which one of the brothers she slept with.

“It’s a sad situation, they didn’t need to do this,” the woman said. “They know the truth, but they are taking advantage of their resemblance to escape responsibility.”

Judge Filipe Luís Peruca ruled that both identical twins must pay child support to Valeria’s daughter, on March 21, but the brothers’ lawyers may still file for an appeal.

 

The names of the protagonists in this article have been fictionalized to protect their identities.