Beverly Hills Paternity Lawyers | Feinberg & Waller, APC, Video Transcript

GRAPHIC: [DR. PHIL]

ANNOUNCER: All new today, Dr. Phil has the DNA test that doesn’t lie.

DR. PHIL: A father may find out that he’s not his son’s real dad.

FEMALE: You are the most evil.

ANNOUNCER: The test results are conclusive, Adam.

DIRECTOR: Coming up.

DR. PHIL: Let’s do it. I want you to get excited about your life.

DIRECTORS: Here we go in ten. Standby, camera 6.

DR. PHIL: If it’s happening now, we’re going to deal with it now.

DIRECTOR: Standby Dr. Phil.

DR. PHIL: This is going to be a changing day in your life.

DIRECTOR: Standby Erie and roll it. Track in. Go Dr. Phil.

DR. PHIL: Kristie grew up in a small town in Oregon. She moved to the big city to pursue her dream of working in a top salon in Los Angeles with celebrity clients. Now through mutual friends she meets a guy. One thing leads to another and she’s now pregnant. Now, Kristie believes that they were starting a relationship, but what happened next complicates matters even more. Take a look.

KRISTIE: I met this guy. When I first met him he was extremely polite and – – . He asked for my number from his friend and contacted me when he came back through town and we had communicated a couple of times over cell phone. It wasn’t like a one-night stand by any means. We had slept together more than once over three and one-half months. He never implied that he had a girlfriend or anything more than that.

GRAPHIC: MySpace page.

KRISTIE: I found out that he was married after I saw his MySpace so I confronted him about it and he said that they were no longer together. I believed him. About a month after I had seen him I realized that I was pregnant and I called him the very next day. He pretty much threatened that his life would be over and begged me in every way, shape and form to not have this child. I decided to have this child because it’s something I cannot imagine not doing. When I told him that I was keeping the child he told me that I was crazy. He even went as far as to say that it was going to affect him more than it was affecting me. He cut off all forms of communication about four months ago. I am now seven months pregnant and I haven’t been able to reach him directly. I am beyond one hundred percent sure that this is his child. I am overwhelmed to be a single mom but I’m very confident that I can make a happy home for her. What I would like from him is to just admit that it is his child and to take responsibility. I don’t want my child to go through life not knowing her father at all.

DR. PHIL: Well, Kristie says that he disconnected the only number that she had for him. Now she found out that he’s actually still married, so this guy’s disappeared, right? So we put our private investigator, Harold Copus, on the trail to find the man that Kristie claims is the father. We found him, and Harold showed up and he showed up with a camera crew.

MR. HAROLD COPUS: I’m Harold Copus. I work for the Dr. Phil Show. I’m a private investigator. You remember Kristie?

MALE: I done know what you’re talking about.

MR. COPUS: That’s Kristie. Remember her?

MALE: Nope.

MR. COPUS: You don’t remember her at all?

MALE: Nope.

MR. COPUS: This is Kristie pregnant.

MALE: I’ve never seen this girl before.

MR. COPUS: She says you’re the father.

MALE: [laughing]

MR. COPUS: No, sir. I’m telling you the truth.

MALE: Ah-hah. That’s gotta be a joke.

MR. COPUS: You went out with your buddy. You were only with this girl two or three times, at most.

MALE: ***’s girlfriend’s roommate.

MR. COPUS: That’s right.

MALE: That girl. I messed around with that girl. Not at all.

MR. COPUS: You got a wife inside who doesn’t know what’s going on.

MALE: ‘Cause nothing happened.

MR. COPUS: Well, you got a girl out in L.A. that says y’all had sex and she’s pregnant and you’re the dad.

MALE: I never slept with that girl, man. I’m confused about all of this.

MR. COPUS: Well, there’s no confusion. You know the girl. Now when we put in the context you recognize her. You were out in L.A. That was your buddy. You did meet her. Obviously you spent the night over at their apartment and she says y’all had sex once, maybe twice.

MALE: She’s drunk, insane girl. This conversation is over. She is crazy and I’ll see her in court. And if she’s going to pursue it to that point, which I don’t think will even happen because she knows it’s not true. I thoroughly enjoyed this meeting and I wish it could have been on better circumstances. Do the research and figure out she’s crazy.

MR. COPUS: Okay.

DR. PHIL: Well, as this man continued to deny even sleeping with Kristie, we put her on the phone with him while our cameras kept rolling. You’ll see that next and then we’ll talk to Kristie.

KRISTIE: When the private detective finally found him, they put him on the phone with me and continued to deny the whole thing, and that he barely even knew me.

MALE: Nope. Nope. Nope, never happened.

KRISTIE: When he said nope, never happened, I couldn’t do anything but laugh at that.

MALE: You’re crazier than hell. I saw you twice in November. I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.

KRISTIE: I was like, nope, I saw you in February.

MALE: Yeah, you’re full of [bleep]. You’re crazy.

KRISTIE: I said to him that he just needed to take responsibility and act like an adult and that this was his child and it wasn’t going to go away.

DR. PHIL: Well, that was Kristie on the phone with the man she says she is confident, beyond one hundred percent, that this is the father of the baby and she’s due in two months. Now, Kristie wants to pursue a paternity test and prove he’s the father. Right?

KRISTIE: Yes.

DR. PHIL: So you want to get this done?

KRISTIE: I think it’s his responsibility to.

DR. PHIL: So how does it feel now as you sit there now, knowing what you know–you know what happened. I mean, you didn’t sort of have sex with him; you had sex, right?

KRISTIE: Yes, on several occasions.

DR. PHIL: Okay. I mean, and he’s just saying she is drunk and crazy and wrong, and deny, deny, deny. How do you feel when you hear him say that?

KRISTIE: It’s hard to say just because you think you kind of know somebody, at least, more than that, and to hear them deny something completely that is not true. It’s just insane to me.

DR. PHIL: And you know he’s not just going to volunteer to take a paternity test, right?

KRISTIE: Yeah, I pretty much figured that.

DR. PHIL: Yeah, he’s out and gone and he’s not just going to volunteer for this, and a lot of women get in that situation where they can’t find him and then he doesn’t want to do it. And so that’s a problem, right?

KRISTIE: Yes.

DR. PHIL: And you know that’s not going to be easy?

KRISTIE: Yeah.

DR. PHIL: But we wanted to help again. So to help Kristie obtain the paternity test to prove who the father is, she’s clearly going to have to take him to court. So I’d like Kristie to meet Marshall W. Waller of the law firm Feinberg & Waller, APC,. Can you all say hello?

MR. Marshall W. Waller: Hello.

[audience clapping]

DR. PHIL: Now, Marshall, you have agreed to help this young lady bring these things to pass, correct?

MR. WALLER: Yes.

DR. PHIL: So what has to happen here?

MR. WALLER: Well, basically what has to happen is we have to file a petition to establish paternity. We have to serve the person that Kristie thinks is the father. And then he has the opportunity to present whatever defense he may have. In the grand scheme of things what really happens is we request the court order that the parties undergo paternity testing. The court will order that. He’s either going to have to participate or not. If he does not participate in the paternity testing, under California law that can be used against him by the judge as evidence of his paternity.

DR. PHIL: Okay, and so you understand if he doesn’t agree to take the test, then they pretty much just resolve that to his detriment and assume that by hiding the results they’ll resolve that in her favor against him?

MR. WALLER: Pretty much. He has an opportunity to come in and stand up, and if he chooses not to do it he’ll suffer the consequences.

DR. PHIL: Now, you understand, we got you the best of the best here and he’s agreed to help you. He cares about this kind of thing and he’s willing to get involved in this and help you find this guy and bring him to justice–

KRISTIE: [interposing] Thank you so much.

DR. PHIL: –at this point, and you know, you’ll just start filing papers. Do you have to wait until the birth?

MR. WALLER: No, we can file now. We can actually obtain reimbursement for medical cost that you’ve occurred so far. We can even obtain an advance on child support before the child is born. Now mind you, if it turns out that he’s not the father, you have to give the money back. But there’s a lot that we can do and once the ball gets rolling we can establish custody and visitation and it’s like any other paternity matter.

DR. PHIL: Yeah, we’re going to put a link to this guy’s law firm on the website so you all can find them. Now you’re considering writing a letter to his wife?

KRISTIE: Um, I had thought about it, just because I don’t believe that she should have to deal with somebody that’s deceiving her. I’m sure I’m not the first.

DR. PHIL: You don’t need more drama in your life right now. This is all going to come out and I don’t know this woman but I think given the fact that she’s having to live with this, she probably deserves a better way of finding this out. That would be my answer to you to that question. We’ll be right back.

DR. PHIL: A big thanks to Marshall W. Waller of the law firm Feinberg & Waller, APC,, and as I say, I’m going to put links up to both of those organizations. I really hope that you two will recognize that your warfare can cost the children…