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Baby Trust Fund: Man Paid 20 Years Of Dues For Child He Never Met (Full Episode) | Paternity Court - YouTube
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[4]
Please be seated.
[6]
Hello, Your Honor.
[6]
Hello.
[7]
This is the case
of<i> Haralson v. Smith.</i>
[9]
Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone.
[11]
AUDIENCE: Good day.
[12]
Mr. Haralson, you admit
to having a one-night stand
[15]
with the defendant whose name
you didn't even know
19 years ago.
[21]
You claim you are the victim
of paternity fraud
[25]
and now you are more
than $20,000 in debt
[28]
for a child
you don't believe is yours
[31]
and have never met.
[34]
(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING)
[34]
Is that correct?
[36]
Yes, Your Honor.
[37]
Ms. Smith, you claim
the plaintiff is your daughter,
[40]
Ta'laah's biological father,
[43]
and the result
will prove it today.
[46]
Is that correct?
[46]
Yes, ma'am.
[48]
Ta'laah is here.
[48]
MS. SMITH: Yes.
[49]
Mr. Haralson,
[51]
are you ready to see her
for the first time?
[55]
Yes, Your Honor.
[56]
Jerome, will you please
escort her in?
[58]
Yes.
[70]
(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING)
[80]
You couldn't even look at him
when you came in?
[84]
TA'LAAH: Mm-mmm. (SNIFFLES)
[87]
Is it too painful?
What do you feel, Ms. Smith?
[92]
It's emotional 'cause
I ain't never seen him before.
[94]
I still can't look at him.
[96]
I don't wanna be crying.
[98]
(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING)
[100]
You can look at me.
[102]
Okay? Okay.
[102]
Okay. (CHUCKLES)
[104]
Please take me back to the time
in which you met.
[108]
We had just moved to Detroit.
[110]
And my sister, she had moved in
with a friend,
so we went over there.
[115]
We had a visit.
[116]
We were sitting,
drinking and talking.
[118]
We would stop
on the steps for a minute,
[120]
we went upstairs and had sex
and that's what it was.
[122]
(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)
[123]
(LAUGHS) That's what it was.
[126]
So it really was
a brief encounter.
[126]
Yes.
[129]
Right. And then, see,
after that everybody
split ways.
[131]
And, Mr. Haralson, you'd say
you didn't even know her name.
[134]
No...
[134]
MS. SMITH: He knew my name.
[135]
I knew his nickname.
[137]
I didn't know...
[138]
You know what I'm saying?
We only knew nicknames
[139]
from each other,
like, what people called us.
[141]
You know, we didn't
know each other.
[142]
So how did she tell you
she was pregnant?
[145]
I didn't know about
the pregnancy. I only knew
[148]
when the baby was here.
[150]
MS. SMITH: So I didn't
tell ya'll I was pregnant
in the beginning?
[151]
No. How... How could you?
[153]
Cause we were staying
in the same area.
[155]
No, when she came back
[157]
in the picture or in town,
or wherever she was from,
[160]
she'd seen my mother and...
[160]
I didn't never leave.
[162]
She seen my... I left...
[162]
I didn't never leave.
Okay. So how you gonna put...
[164]
So you left town?
[164]
MR. HARALSON: Yes,
I left town.
[166]
After this sexual encounter
you left town.
[166]
How you gonna put it on me...
[169]
Right.
[171]
JUDGE LAKE:
All right. And the next thing
you hear is what?
[174]
Well, I come back to...
[177]
Her telling my mother
that I have a child.
[180]
And so was Mr. Haralson
the only man you were
having sex with at the time?
[184]
Yes.
[184]
TA'LAAH: That's not
what you told me.
[186]
MR. HARALSON: That's not true.
[186]
Yes.
[187]
That's not true.
[187]
Yes.
[188]
(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING)
[190]
JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Smith?
[190]
MR. HARALSON: Not true.
[191]
TA'LAAH: Yeah.
[191]
Ta'laah, you say
that's not true?
[193]
Mm-mm. She said she was talking
to somebody else.
[196]
She said after her and
my daddy...
[198]
Around the time her and
my daddy had sex
[198]
MS SMITH: Well that ain't the
same with all of them.
[200]
she was talking
to somebody else.
[203]
(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING)
[203]
'Cause we wasn't
in no relationship.
[204]
It was just
a hit it and quit it.
[206]
We wasn't in a relationship.
We just had sex
and that's what it was.
[209]
We both were
in and out of town.
[211]
JUDGE LAKE: But... But, no...
[212]
With all due respect,
there are many people alive
here on this earth
[216]
who are products
of hit it and quit it.
[218]
MS. SMITH: Right. It is.
[220]
So, that...
That's just reality.
[220]
It is. It is. It is.
[222]
How did you even find out
you were on child support?
[226]
When I started working, um,
[228]
it just started coming
out of my check.
[230]
But in 2001, or 2002,
is when I noticed money started
coming out.
[234]
So you've never got a summons
to appear in court?
[237]
No. You know why I didn't,
because I didn't have
a address. I was not in town.
[240]
How, how he got
on child support,
how he told me was
[244]
after they had sex or whatever,
[247]
he said it was around
his birthday,
he was under the influence and
[249]
supposedly Momma stole his ID
and his Social Security card
[252]
and went to put him
on child support.
[253]
When she went to go put him
on child support
[255]
she gave them
the wrong address,
[257]
so, therefore, he never
received no child support
from her.
[259]
JUDGE LAKE: Wait.
Hold on, hold on.
[259]
No. That's not what it was.
[261]
Really?
[261]
Wait, hold on.
[263]
You're saying Mr. Haralson
told you that story?
[263]
TA'LAAH: Yes.
[265]
Mr. Haralson, what,
what story is that?
[268]
A stealing of the ID, what?
[269]
I know for a fact,
she stole my ID
and my Social Security card.
[273]
And she told me...
[273]
How you know for a...
[275]
She told me she stole it.
[277]
I didn't tell you
I stole nothing.
[277]
(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING)
[279]
If you didn't know
his real name...
[283]
You only knew the nickname.
[283]
MS. SMITH: Mm-hmm.
[285]
How did you find out
his full name
[287]
to put him on child support?
[287]
Cause people...
[289]
The people,
where we were staying,
where he'd been upstairs
[291]
for, I don't know, how long,
[293]
how long he'd been
living upstairs
from the people downstairs,
[295]
they knew his name.
[297]
And so when she went down
and followed this process
[299]
at the point she gave
your name and address
[301]
there should have been
a letter of summons sent,
something to tell you
[304]
to appear in court
for a DNA test.
[304]
MR. HARALSON: Mm-hm.
[307]
You never got that?
[307]
No, I didn't.
[309]
Explain.
[309]
Cause I wasn't in...
I wasn't in the States.
[311]
I was, I was gone.
[313]
And so at that point
you pretty much missed
the court date?
[315]
Yeah, I missed
all of the court dates.
[317]
So what we do know is that
if you miss a court date
[319]
you're gonna be named
the father by default.
[322]
MR. HARALSON: Exactly.
[323]
And now you're $20,000 in debt
[326]
because you did not
show up to court
[329]
and this debt
is all for a child
[332]
you don't believe
is your biological child.
[335]
See, but the thing
about that is
[338]
I've tried throughout the years
to get DNA tests
[340]
and she just wouldn't
cooperate with that.
[343]
He didn't wanna pay for it.
[344]
He wanted me to go half.
I'm not paying for half.
[347]
I know she's mine.
[348]
(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)
[348]
I know she mine.
[351]
If you want more episodes
of Paternity Court
[353]
Make sure to subscribe
and click on
the notification bell.
[359]
I think this is
an important time...
[359]
MS. SMITH: It is.
[362]
As we begin to talk
about all of the things
that were happening.
[366]
All this time you were
growing up without a dad.
[366]
Mm-hmm.
[369]
<i> And what was life like
growing up without your dad</i>
[374]
so much so that
when you walked in here,
you couldn't even look at him?
[377]
At the end of the day,
there was nobody
like your real dad.
[380]
And I just never could like,
really, like, connect with
[384]
any other male because
like they really
wasn't my dad or whatever.
[389]
Tell me about your childhood.
What was it like?
[392]
It was rough all the way up
until like five
or six years ago.
[396]
JUDGE LAKE:
When you say it was rough,
what do you mean?
[397]
Like, we wasn't stable.
[399]
We was always moving around
over to everything.
[402]
Five years ago I had a son...
[404]
(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING)
[404]
And I'm not saying
that was because
[408]
of, like, stuff my mama did
or because we weren't stable.
[412]
But she just let me do...
[412]
No, you chose...
[414]
She just let me do
whatever I wanted to do.
[414]
What you wanted to do.
[415]
That's what it was.
[417]
And you felt like
you had no boundaries,
you had no stability.
[421]
I can see the tears
in your eyes that upsets you
that you didn't have that.
[424]
Yeah. I mean, cause I wouldn't
have had a baby so young
[427]
I wouldn't have
to grow up so fast.
[430]
I wouldn't had to do
none of that if...
[432]
if my mom was just, like,
sit your tail down somewhere,
[435]
or if I had a dad,
he'd be like, sit your tail
down somewhere, you know,
[439]
and tell me what to do,
what not to do.
[442]
And...
[443]
That's one thing,
I've had dialogue back and
forth with her since she was
[447]
14, I think 15, when she
contacted me on Facebook
[451]
<i> saying I think
you might be my father.</i>
[454]
So, Ta'laah, tell me
about that search.
[458]
I mean, I think you said
that so beautifully, too.
[460]
And I haven't, I don't think
I've heard any, you know,
young person
[465]
come into this courtroom
and express it in that way,
[468]
that they just wish they had
a father or a mother
[470]
to tell them to go
sit down somewhere.
[472]
Because you hear
so often children...
[475]
It seems as if they resent
when their parents
parented them.
[480]
And I hear you now...
[482]
Saying that you wish
you had that.
[485]
That that could have been
life-changing for you...
[488]
For someone to tell you
that's enough,
[490]
you need to come in
at a certain time,
have a curfew,
[493]
you don't need
to be out with him.
[494]
(SNIFFLING)
[495]
You wanted that kind
of parenting.
[498]
(STAMMERING)
[498]
MS. SMITH: If she had it...
[501]
But you shoulda told me,
stay my butt at home...
[501]
You had it. You had it.
[504]
Oh, I didn't have a home,
I forgot.
[505]
(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING)
[508]
I heard that.
[509]
And that's okay for you
to speak your truth.
[514]
I've, I've always
asked my mom,
[515]
she could tell you,
I've always asked her
who my daddy was.
[517]
She never gave me
a different name.
[519]
She always says
that was Raymond Haralson.
[521]
He had like two pages there.
[523]
And, so I mentioned
both of them, I was like,
[525]
I think you're my dad,
I think you're my dad.
[526]
It was like 2014.
He say, is your mom Kwaina?
[529]
I was like, yeah, why?
[531]
And then the conversation
just went from there.
[534]
So, Mr. Haralson,
when you get that message,
[537]
and you see it's Ta'laah
and she's saying
I think you're my dad
[541]
you ask her,
is this your mother?
[543]
MR. HARALSON: Yes.
[544]
JUDGE LAKE:
What do you do next?
[546]
Well, basically
I'm just making sure she...
[548]
But how can he ask
if he's her daddy?
He didn't know my name, so.
[551]
How can he ask her that?
[552]
Is your mama this?
And you didn't know my name.
[554]
And we ain't never speak
outside that day.
[554]
MR. HARALSON: This is...
[557]
This is what, three years ago?
[559]
I've been paying her
child support for since 2001,
[562]
oh, I know your name.
[563]
Yes, you do.
[563]
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
[566]
You didn't know
he was paying child support?
[569]
No, I didn't know...
I didn't know he was
paying child support
[571]
until couple of years ago.
[573]
MS. SMITH: What?
[574]
And so you never feel like
you benefited
from that child support...
[576]
Girl, you got the car.
You've been giving the money.
[579]
You got a car and I ain't never
had a car.
[579]
Yes, I did, a couple years ago.
[581]
Couple of years ago.
[584]
'Cause I...
[584]
My mama had my child support,
you had a car.
[587]
Yeah. Cause it was
and I took it.
[588]
Yeah. So what are you
complaining for?
[588]
(SNIFFLES)
[591]
I ain't complaining.
I'm just saying I didn't know
who was paying child support
[593]
until couple of years ago
cause if he has
to pay child support,
[596]
you're supposed to support
the child with child support.
[598]
JUDGE LAKE:
She got a right to complain.
[600]
She has a right to complain.
She has a right to
[604]
speak her piece because
she's the one that has lived
with this all this time.
[609]
And to have to have the courage
as a young girl to reach out
to a grown man
[612]
and say I think
you're my daddy, that's a lot.
[617]
<i>What was it like when
you connected, when you finally
got to talk to him?</i>
[621]
We just like,
connected or whatever.
[624]
'Cause I, when we would have
phone conversations, like,
[627]
our phone conversations
would be like
really, really long.
[630]
We would talk all the time
and, like, we would just have
so much in common and, like,
[634]
it was, it wasn't weird,
you know, it wasn't awkward.
[637]
And like, I would always
be like,
[638]
Daddy, this, Daddy, that...
he'd be like,
don't be calling me that.
[642]
Oh, you would call him Daddy
and he said
don't call him that?
[645]
Mm-hmm. He'd say don't know.
[647]
He'd say, I'm not saying...
He was like,
I'm not saying you is,
[650]
but just, you know,
I don't want you to get used
to calling me Daddy
[653]
and I won't be your daddy.
[655]
Wouldn't that be bad?
You know what I'm saying?
[657]
She'd be calling me Father
or, well, Daddy all this time.
[660]
Then we find out it's not,
so I said just don't get used
to calling me that.
[663]
I said I just wanna find out
the truth regardless.
[666]
You know what I'm saying?
[666]
JUDGE LAKE: And so have you
built a relationship together?
[669]
Yes. Definitely.
[669]
You have?
[670]
Mm-hmm.
[670]
You talk?
[672]
MR. HARALSON: Yes. A lot.
[673]
Deep down in her heart
she believes I'm her father
[676]
and even if I tell her
don't call me that
she still would call me that.
[680]
JUDGE LAKE: Mmm.
[680]
Sure is.
[682]
(MS. SMITH CHUCKLES)
[683]
JUDGE LAKE:
Because you do believe
he is your dad.
[687]
Have you prepared yourself,
Ta'laah, if it doesn't
go your way?
[691]
I mean, your mom, you say
your mom was honest, she
was talking to someone else.
[694]
Have you prepared yourself?
[697]
What if he's not
my biological father?
[699]
Then I'm gonna look at her
[702]
and say who it is.
[704]
Cause, I mean, after...
If he's not then I probably
won't worry about it
[707]
cause I'm gonna be
20 years old...
[710]
I just wouldn't see
the point, but...
[714]
Twenty years old
is still very young, honey.
[716]
And I want to tell you
there is no time frame
[719]
on the feelings that
you have related to
[723]
wanting to know your father.
[724]
Trust me, I see people
each and every day.
Fifty, sixty years old,
[728]
still wanting to know
and there's nothing
wrong with that.
[732]
So I just want you
to understand.
[735]
I wouldn't want to know
if he's not because
[738]
I don't like opening up
to people,
[740]
like, I have a wall,
and he could tell you,
[744]
I have a wall, uh...
[746]
I don't even wanna, like,
let him out of the way yet
till I find out.
[749]
And I'm not trying to
start over with somebody else.
That's just not gonna happen.
[753]
JUDGE LAKE:
That's hard for you.
[754]
She's not trying
to go past me.
[756]
I understand
why you have the wall.
[759]
And, Mom, I know this has been
not an easy day for you as well
[763]
but I see the tears
in your eyes
because you do care.
[766]
Mm-hmm.
[768]
Crazy.
[768]
You do care.
[770]
What are your hopes today
as a mother?
[772]
I hope she is his.
[774]
And what are your hopes today,
Mr. Haralson?
[777]
I just want the truth.
[779]
JUDGE LAKE:
Well, I think I've heard
sufficient testimony
[782]
and I think it's time
we get the truth.
[785]
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
[785]
Jerome, may I have
the results, please?
[789]
Thank you.
[789]
You're welcome.
[791]
These results were prepared
by DNA diagnostics
[796]
and they read as follows.
[799]
"In the case
of<i> Haralson v. Smith..."</i>
[806]
"When it comes
to 19 year-old Ta'laah Smith,
[814]
"it has been determined
by this court...
[820]
"Mr. Haralson...
[823]
"You...
[826]
Are the father."
[828]
(ALL APPLAUDING)
[836]
You found your father, Ta'laah.
[840]
We did it, honey.
[842]
You made it.
[845]
(SNIFFLING)
[850]
Thank you, Dad.
[850]
Thank you.
[854]
You're good.
You did it, baby.
[855]
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
[857]
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
[860]
Ta'laah, would you like
to go down and stand
with your dad?
[872]
Now I wanna ask you something.
[875]
'Cause when you came
in the courtroom you said
you couldn't look at him.
[878]
Can you look at him
for the first time?
[883]
(TA'LAAH LAUGHS)
(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)
[885]
Oh, honey.
[888]
You can cry, too.
[889]
(LAUGHTER)
[892]
And so can you look
at your daughter? Can you look
at your little girl?
[896]
She's been through a lot
to get to this point, Dad.
[898]
I'm proud of you.
[900]
Now we go, leave here
and do what we gotta do.
[904]
Okay. I'll try.
[906]
And it's important as her dad
that you step in now.
You've been a provider,
[912]
but now be the protector.
[914]
I plan on it.
[916]
JUDGE LAKE:
For a young woman,
your father is your hero.
[918]
So as she said,
when she said I'll try
[921]
what she was saying was
these walls I've built
are so strong
[925]
I don't even know
how to bring 'em down.
[928]
Right?
[928]
Mm-hmm.
[930]
And you can prove to her
in this moment there's nothing
that can keep you away...
[935]
Again.
[936]
And, Mom, you gotta
give him room to do that.
[938]
Yes, ma'am.
[940]
JUDGE LAKE:
So we have counseling
and resources for you.
[941]
I want you
to take advantage of it
[943]
and I want you
to start the healing process
[945]
because I want Ta'laah
to have the feeling of love
[950]
from both parents.
[951]
And for your child to have
the love of both grandparents.
[957]
Phew.
[959]
You're a granddad.
[959]
MS. SMITH: Granddad.
[960]
(LAUGHS)
[960]
(AUDIENCE CHUCKLES)
[962]
I am just finding out
I'm a grandfather.
[964]
JUDGE LAKE: All right.
[964]
(MS. SMITH CHUCKLES)
[966]
Well, that's what we do here.
[966]
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
[969]
That's what we do here.
[972]
All right, I wish you
all the very, very best.
That was beautiful.
[975]
Court is adjourned.
[976]
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
[976]
(GAVEL BANGS)
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