Twins With Different Fathers: DNA Proves Man Only Fathered One Twin, Child Support Only Owed On One

A New Jersey father learned he is only the father to one of his former girlfriend’s children. However, the case is unusual in that the man learned he was the father of only one twin. The woman gave birth to twins that had two different fathers. This may leave you wondering, how is that possible?

According to the New Jersey Law Journal, Judge Sohail Mohammad ruled that the father was only responsible for paying child support for one of the twins, as the second twin was determined by DNA not to be his child. Paternity tests proved that the man was the father of one twin, but not the other. The case is only one of three of its kind on record.

The Daily Mail notes that the case is unusual, because it is very rare for twins to have two different fathers. However, it is possible when a woman sleeps with two different men in the same week during the same menstrual cycle. For a woman to give birth to twins with different fathers, she must release two eggs during her ovulation and have sex with two different men during that same ovulation period. If each egg is fertilized by a different man’s sperm, the result will be two twin babies with different fathers.

This is apparently the case for the New Jersey woman. In court, the woman did admit to having sex with two different men during the same week. However, she was in an ongoing relationship with the man she took to court at the time. The woman brought the man to court, thinking he was the father of both of her twin daughters, but quickly learned after paternity testing that her twin daughters were really half-siblings.

Surprisingly, a study performed in 1997 found that twins have different fathers in one out of every 13,000 reported paternity cases involving twins. This is likely a higher number than one would expect, as it would make the twins technically half-siblings, despite being carried in their mother’s womb at the same time.

Scientists also believe that twins can be “conceived” on different days. For example, a woman ovulates two eggs but each is fertilized by different sexual encounters with the same man. In addition to twins conceived on different days and conceived by different fathers, in rare instances, a pregnant woman can get pregnant with a second child days, weeks, or even months after conceiving her first child. This can happen when, for an unknown reason, a woman continues to ovulate even after pregnant. If the woman has sex and the egg is fertilized, it can embed itself into the lining of the womb. However, in these instances, the babies would have to be born at the same time, with one baby being born early.

Did you know that twins could be conceived at different times by different fathers, or even be born at different gestational ages?

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