
Quoting
Lohman v Carnahan, 963 So. 2d 985 (Fla 4th DCA 2007)
We distinguish Lander, which narrowly circumscribed its holding to the facts of that case. 906 So. 2d at 1135. There, the mother acknowledged the putative father as the child's father by having his name placed on the birth certificate and the putative father supported the child and bonded with him after his birth. Id. at 1131-33 . We also distinguish this case from T.B. v. M.M., 945 So. 2d 637 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006), where the putative father filed a paternity action and the mother married another man two days after she was served with process; there was no intact marriage at the time the paternity action was filed. Id. at 639.
As Judge Altenbernd has written, these types of cases, involving "quasi-marital children," are intensely fact sensitive and "difficult, if not impossible, to address within the case law method." S.D., 764 So. 2d at 809. For centuries, the law developed on the assumption that a mother's parentage was certain, but a father's connection to a child could be open to doubt. The advent of DNA testing has changed the dynamics in these cases. In the past ten years, the law has struggled to balance the sanctity of marriage, the right of privacy, and the best interest of children against the knowledge of paternity acquired by DNA testing. In construing the existing Florida rule, the panel opinion took too narrow a view of what constituted an "intact marriage." To paraphrase Justice Jackson, "if there are other ways of gracefully and good naturedly surrendering former views to a better considered position," we "invoke them all." McGrath v. Kristensen, 340 U.S. 162, 178, 71 S. Ct. 224, 95 L. Ed. 173 (1950) (Jackson, J., concurring).