re: Should a paternity test be mandatory?

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Let’s say John Doe is married and he and his wife have a kid. He secretly has a paternity test within a month of birth (not suspicious of adultery, just checking to be sure) and finds out the kid is not his. What recourse does he have? What if (instead) ten years pass and some guy from his wife’s past comes out of left field and (out of guilt) confesses to being the real father and a paternity test confirms that John is indeed not the father. 

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In the first scenario, the husband would likely not have to pay support. In the second scenario, the husband is screwed. Many states place time limits to challenge paternity once it's acknowledged. Even beyond that, courts can and do impute child support obligations to psychological parents. And here's another twist: let's say you're the biological father in the second scenario and had no idea you had a kid until a lawyer for the husband in a divorce action calls you out of the blue to explain what's happened. Even if paternity is established (for purposes of proving adultery and fraud), the courts will likely not allow you visitation at that point absent some sort of extraordinary circumstances. The moral of this story: women are evil.