Minhang District People's Court rejected a Taiwanese businessman's demand that his lover return 320,000 yuan ($52,859) in child support after ruling there wasn't enough evidence to show he wasn't the boy's father, the court said Tuesday.

The court ruled that the plaintiff's decision to pay child support when the baby was born constituted a de facto acknowledgement that he was the father, according to a court press release. It also noted that the plaintiff acknowledged the boy as his son in letters to the defendant.

The plaintiff, who was not identified, sued his lover, a local woman, in 2012 after she refused for years to allow the boy to undergo a paternity test, the court said.

The plaintiff began cheating on his wife with the defendant in 2003. In 2008, the defendant gave birth to a boy who she said was fathered by the plaintiff. At the hospital, the plaintiff signed a surgical release form as the woman's husband.

In his letters to her, he acknowledged that the boy was his son. After the boy was born, the plaintiff started transferring money to a bank account under the boy's name.

In 2009, the plaintiff began asking for a paternity test. The defendant always refused, which made the plaintiff suspicious, the court said.

After the lawsuit was filed, the defendant said she was unwilling to consent to the paternity test because she believed it would hurt the boy's feelings.

The court ruled that the defendant's refusal wasn't enough to prove that the plaintiff wasn't the boy's father. It determined that the plaintiff did not provide any evidence to support his claim that he was not the boy's father.

Global Times