A Texas man who's finally no longer required to pay child support after 13 years of bank-breaking wage garnishment still owes the state $21,000 in back payments.

And the girl isn't even his.

Willie Carson says he suffered for years as he struggled to make monthly payments and now that it's been proven he can't possibly be father to the girl, who he's also never even met, he may still be forced to pay up.

Expensive mistake: Willie Carson of Houston, Texas has had his wages garnished for some 13 years because he was erroneously included on a girl's birth certificate

According to Texas state law, he's required to pay any outstanding payments owed, as well as any accrued interest.

All this, despite DNA tests proving unequivocally Carson is not the father and all because he was initially named on the birth certificate by the mother.

'I've never seen the child. I never spoke to the child. I don't know what the child looks like,' Carson told MyFoxHouston.

Nonetheless, because of his garnished paychecks, he says:

'There were days that I didn't eat. I went without electricity.'

Carson has a court appearance on Monday, one he hopes will save him from losing all his hard earned cash to what amounts to a clerical error.

'I'm hoping for it but the judge has the last say so,' he said.

Once a court terminates the parent-child relationship, when will the man’s duty to pay child support end? In Texas, the answer is: when the man is finished paying. The termination of the man’s parental rights ends the obligation to pay future support, as of the date the order is rendered. However, the order does not eliminate any child support obligations before that date or any interest that has accrued. The man is still responsible for arrears that accrued up to the termination date, as well as for interest that accrues after the termination date. SOURCE: Texas Attorney General Advertisement

Law not on his side: 'I'm hoping for it but the judge has the last say so,' Carson said as he discussed whether he'll be off the hook for his outstanding balance

The state of Texas voted to allow DNA proof to reverse parental rights, whereas it had previously been next to impossible.

However, the law was written to work forward, not backward. And there are no refunds.

So, the woes of people like Carson who've already had trouble paying child support will continue as they struggle to keep up with mounting interest on back payments.

And Carson is far from alone. Another Texas man, Ray Thomas, reached out to KHOU in 2011 to discuss the very same predicament.

The Texas man owed even more than Carson, though. He owed back child support amounting to $50,000, $13,000 of which was interest.

I don t understand the judge can just give you a baby that ain't yours, Thomas said at the time.

You are not the father: Carson and his ex are both totally positive he isn't the 13-year-old girl's father, but the law in this situation does not look backward--what's done is done and Carson's debts, at least for now, must still be fulfilled