We granted these discretionary applications to consider the trial court’s rulings in this legitimation action. The trial court did not err in denying appellant Kevin Matthews’ legitimation petition, determining that Matthews had lost his opportunity interest in becoming the child’s legal father, and finding that legitimation was not in the best interest of the child. The trial court also did not abuse its discretion in entering a no-contact order with respect to Matthews. We therefore affirm in part. The trial court erred, however, in ordering Matthews to pay child support, and we therefore reverse that portion of the court’s order. The facts as found by the trial court show that immediately after Amy Dukes “the wife” married James Dukes “the husband” in 2003, she began an affair with Matthews, who was also married to another.1 In 2005, the wife became pregnant, and suspected that Matthews might be the father. She informed the husband, but falsely told him “that she’d had a one-time sexual encounter with him and that it was over.” The husband testified, and the trial court found, that the husband “has provided for all the child’s needs” and the husband, wife and child “have lived together as a family continuously since the birth of the child.”
The wife testified that, after the child was born, she and Matthews arranged for a DNA test —under false names —and discovered that Matthews was the child’s biological father.2 They did not, however, inform the husband. Matthews did not take any legal steps at that time to acknowledge or legitimate the child. Instead, Matthews saw the child when the wife met him secretly at the marital residence, Matthews’ home, and other places where they believed they would not be recognized. These meetings included sex in the marital home while the child was there. Matthews also brought the child of his own marriage along to meetings outside the marital residence. Matthews testified that he gave the wife cash and purchased some toys and clothes for the child over a period of five years. He provided receipts for approximately $250 worth of clothes and toys. He believed that he had also purchased “a few more pull-ups and a few cans of formula” although he had no receipts, and he let her borrow some used clothing and equipment that his daughter had used. He acknowledged that he had not provided any substantial support for the child.
