Past studies have shown that the chance of having twins with different fathers is only one in 13,000. However, a paternity case in New Jersey has gained international attention as DNA test revealed that a twin have different fathers.
Passaic County Superior Court Judge Sohail Mohammed wrote that it is the second case he handled nationally as reported by Global News, "This is a case of first impression in New Jersey and only a handful of reported cases exist nationwide."
Based on the court documents, the mother, whose name was kept confidential and regarded as 'T.M.' gave birth to twin girls in 2013 and said a man named 'A.S.' is their father. Child support was applied for financial assistance from the man. However, it was revealed that she had sex with another man within a week from the other man, social services asked to have a DNA test.
According to DNA expert, Dr. Karl-Hanz Wurzinger, the result that was given on November 2014, the chances are high that two eggs were fertilized by two sperm from different fathers, Fox News reports.
The court ruling suggested that A.S. would pay half of the custody expenses needed for his child. However, the father of the other twin wasn't named.
Baby Center explains why. One study estimates that as many as 1 in 400 sets of fraternal twins is "bipaternal," or they have two different fathers. When a woman has sex with more than one man while she's fertile, "heteropaternal superfecundation" can occur. This means that the two eggs can be fertilized with two different fathers especially when the intercourse happened during her fertile period.
"It is more common than we think," Dr. Keith Eddleman, director of obstetrics at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, told Fox News.
