PATERSON -- The man who was believed to have fathered twin girls in Passaic County actually only fathered one of them, according to a precedent-setting ruling by a Superior Court judge.

It's the first paternity case in New Jersey and only the third nationwide to feature two different fathers for a set of twins.

Judge Sohail Mohammed ruled that a man identified only as "A.S." was off the hook for child support payments to one of the twins after DNA testing determined he fathered one with 99.9 percent certainty but could not have been the father of the other.

A Superior Court Judge ruled that DNA tests concluded a Passaic County man only fathered one of a pair of twin girls. Two eggs were fertilized by two different fathers in the same menstrual cycle, DNA tests revealed. (Star-Ledger file photo)

The mother, identified only as "T.M." gave birth to twin girls in January of 2013 and named A.S., a romantic partner, as the father of both kids when applying for public assistance. But after she admitted that she had sex with another, unidentified man within a week of having had sex with A.S., social services ordered a DNA test. In November of 2014, the tests came back. And they were surprising.

Dr. Karl-Hanz Wurzinger, a DNA expert, testified that the two eggs were fertilized from different fathers during the same menstrual cycle.

An academic study he published in 1997 found that different fathers occurs in about one out of every 13,000 reported paternity cases involving twins, according to the court case.

"A.S.," who represented himself in court, will pay $28 a week in child support payments to his offspring.



Liana Allen, who represented the Passaic County Social Services Board in the case, could not be reached for comment.

James Kleimann may be reached at jkleimann@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @jameskleimann. Find NJ.com on Facebook. e