Randy A.J. v. Norma I.J

In Randy A.J. v. Norma I.J., 2004 WI 41, 270 Wis. 2d 384, 677 N.W.2d 630, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held the mother and putative father were equitably estopped from asserting the genetic test results, showing a 99.99% probability that the putative father was the biological father, to rebut the statutory presumption that the man married to the mother was the father of the child. The court noted "equitable estoppel requires proof of three elements: (1) an action or an inaction that induces; (2) reliance by another; (3) to his or her detriment." Id. The Wisconsin court decided that the mother and putative father's actions and lack of actions, which were relied on by the child and the presumed father, combined with the state's interest in preserving the status of the child as a marital child, outweighed any interest "in a purely biological approach to parenthood." Id.