My husband just received some paper work stating that he needs to appear in family court for back child support from a child whom he never knew was his. In 1998, a female he had been seeing gave birth to a boy. She told him he was not the father and he even knew who his real father was. However, in 2000, my husband was served with papers stating to give up his paternal rights to this little boy. When he appeared in court, he never signed any documents, and the child had been taken away from his mother and placed in the care of his maternal grandmother. Now ten years later, she has her son again, and is now taking my husband to court for back child support. He wants nothing to do with her, so if by some horrible chance this child turns out to be his, can he sign over all of his rights and responsibilities? The mother since then has remarried and the boy has been raised by that man for the past eight years. We live in NYC.

What state are you in? That will play a big part but guessing you are in one of the majority states... no he can not. He does need to have a court orderd DNA test done to make sure he is the father first. I stress the court ordered part because private ones don't count. If the test comes out negative as she originally said he wasn't the father then there is nothing to worry about. If it comes out positive then he will be responsible for current as well as any back support ordered by the judge. If mother's current husband wishes to adopt the boy then your husband would be able to sign over his rights to make way for that adoption.