Can I be forced to take a paternity test 14 years later even though the mother of the child said it wasn't mine?
Question Details:
14 years ago I was willing to take a paternity test to establish if I was the father of a friends child. She said I wasn't and had someone else sign the birth certificate. I got married several years later and she now wants me to take a paternity test. Can I be forced to take one in the state of MD?
Hello. I am a Maryland barred attorney and appreciate the New Jersey attorney's thoughts although I have a somewhat different analysis of the situation. Certainly it must be disturbing to hear you may in fact be a father when you were told otherwise. Please note that in this state, however, anyone who receives public benefits for a child may be required to identify the real father (or the possible candidates) for paternity testing - this can be ordered by the state no matter what the mother's preference on the subject.
I encourage you to consider the impact on the child, as well as your own thoughts on establishing a possible parental relationship with a teenager and proceed from there. Unless some adoption or other proceedings terminates your parental rights, if you are the natural father you have both rights and obligations until the child is 18.
Because your fact pattern involves many potential issues, you may wish to contact a family lawyer licensed in Maryland as soon as possible. If you cannot afford an attorney or need some preliminary asistance, you may want to call the state-wide free Family Law Hotline which operates at 1-800-845-8550 Monday through Friday 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. While the above is not legal advice, I hope the the above may be helpful.
Perhaps, but I'd fight it. You've married, and planned your life based on the fact that (as far as you knew) you weren't the child's father. By having someone else sign the birth certificate as the father, she set it up so that you had no connection with this child. There's a very real chance that the court would look at these facts, decide that even if you are the biological father, it's too late for it to be fair to make you pay child support. And if that's the case, then the court won't order you to take the test, because the result won't matter to the court.
TAKE IT TO COURT
A REASONABLE JUDGE WILL WEIGH THE FACTS AND MAKE A DECESION. IN MARYLAND IF YOU ARE MARRIED THE COURT PRESUMES IT IS YOUR CHILD.IF SOMEONE ELESE SIGNED THE BIRTHCERT THEY SHOULD PAY SUPPORT NOT YOU
