Injustice For The Sake Of Justice
Authored By: Bradley Chapline
Page Eight
2003 - Revised 2022
Authored By: Bradley Chapline
Page Eight
2003 - Revised 2022
Epilogue
This story was not truly over after I finished writing it for years to come. However, I was eventually able to get a divorce some seven years after I made the decision to do so. I did not have to pay the monies Debbie tried to extort from me as being owed to her father. She did try to saddle me with child support for a total of three children who were not, even by the greatest stretch of imagination, possibly mine biologically. Due to the law in Maryland which makes a man responsible for a “child of the marriage” I did face responsibility for some support. This meant that it didn’t matter whether I was the biological father so much as it mattered if I was legally married to Debbie at the time of conception. Therefore, it was finally accepted that I was not responsible for either the first or third child which Debbie tried to charge me with. As for the middle child, the state had ignored a legal document cutting the support amount in half. Also, since Debbie and Juanita hid the children from me for so many years, there was no way I could provide medical coverage for anyone. Most importantly, the state finally recognized that Debbie was committing massive fraud in that she was collecting welfare for the children under multiple last names, illegally claiming my responsibility. She was eventually sent to prison for her actions. It is there I believe she died. Though I am not certain about that, I do know she is no longer on this earth. Nor is Juanita, nor Walcott. The final amount for which I agreed to settle was a fraction, not even ten percent, of the amount the state had attempted to charge against me. I ended up paying this because truly every action has consequences. And even though no child from Debbie was my biological progeny, I had made the mistake of legally entering into a marriage contract with her and had not yet started divorce proceedings when her promiscuity resulted in a pregnancy by another man. I do not like it, but accept that my rash decisions put me in the position of legal, if not biological or ethical, responsibility for some sort of support payment. This is a serious reminder that all our actions and decisions may have unexpected, unwarranted and unwanted consequences. I have, however, in some manner won my long and hard fought battle.