My boyfriend took a private paternity test for his alleged 4 year old daughter. The results were negative. He has been paying child support ($600.00 appox per month) and he was told by his case worker from the child support department that he had a slim chance of the child support being terminated. That the judge would find in favor for the best interest of the child.. However, he would like to still be in her life, but he does not want to be court ordered to pay child support. Initially, the mother of the child told him that the child was another persons, then she changed her statement and said the child was his. Can a judge really order child support to continue if a court ordered dna test was done and came back negative? We live in South Bend, In. will it be in his best interest to pay for an attorney or can this matter be resolved by him simply requesting a paternity test from the court?

No, a court will not order him to continue paying support since the test came back negative... he can actually file to have it all returned to him and she would be ordered to pay back the full amount that he paid in support through the court. A judge would absolutely not make him continue paying once the court ordered dna test is brought into court. He could also not beable to have contact with the girl either, not because of a court order but because the mother could decide that since he is not allowed to and the court wouldn't be able to do anything about that because he isn't the father. I am from Indiana as well so I know it applies in your state! He can try just requesting a DNA test but an attourney would also help and would make it move along faster especially if he wants his money returned. Hope that helps!

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Originally Posted by sugapuddin247

My boyfriend took a private paternity test for his alleged 4 year old daughter. The results were negative. He has been paying child support ($600.00 appox per month) and he was told by his case worker from the child support department that he had a slim chance of the child support being terminated. That the judge would find in favor for the best interest of the child.. However, he would like to still be in her life, but he does not want to be court ordered to pay child support. Initially, the mother of the child told him that the child was another persons, then she changed her statement and said the child was his. Can a judge really order child support to continue if a court ordered dna test was done and came back negative? We live in South Bend, In. will it be in his best interest to pay for an attorney or can this matter be resolved by him simply requesting a paternity test from the court?

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Does it matter that he signed the birth certificate.. From my experience, the mother will spitefully keep the little girl from him.. He is not seeking any return of support rendered. But can they order her to pay if he can't prove she knew prior that the girl was not his..

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Originally Posted by sugapuddin247

Does it matter that he signed the birth certificate..? From my experience, the mother will spitefully keep the little girl from him.. He is not seeking any return of support rendered. But can they order her to pay if he can't prove she knew prior that the girl was not his..?

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This is why an attourney is of great use. The court can still order her to return the money because as much as I hate to say it the only sure way a guy knows that he is the father is from DNA since they aren't poppin them out themselves. The fact that he signed the birth cirtificate will definitely come into play but all the attourney has to do is show that she wasn't 100% sure it was his which she obviously wasn't. The birth cirtificate information will then be changed and he will be removed as father it will take a little time of course because it's a lot of paper work. Your boyfriend just really needs to take some time and think about if he wants to continue paying support and remain in her life or have the information changed and not pay anymore if that's the case he really needs to hire a lawyer to help him get it done.

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Originally Posted by sugapuddin247

My boyfriend took a private paternity test for his alleged 4 year old daughter. The results were negative. He has been paying child support ($600.00 appox per month) and he was told by his case worker from the child support department that he had a slim chance of the child support being terminated. That the judge would find in favor for the best interest of the child.. However, he would like to still be in her life, but he does not want to be court ordered to pay child support. Initially, the mother of the child told him that the child was another persons, then she changed her statement and said the child was his. Can a judge really order child support to continue if a court ordered dna test was done and came back negative? We live in South Bend, In. will it be in his best interest to pay for an attorney or can this matter be resolved by him simply requesting a paternity test from the court?

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First-private DNA tests are inadmissible in Court.
Second-it depends on where you live in.Only five states allow CS to be cancelled at any time.Another states have time limit-usually from one to five years after child's birth.

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Originally Posted by sugapuddin247

Can a judge really order child support to continue if a court ordered dna test was done and came back negative?

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First-the judge has a right to order or not to order DNA tests.
See IC 31-14-7-3
Paternity affidavits
Sec. 3. A man is a child's legal father if the man executed a
Paternity affidavit in accordance with IC 16-37-2-2.1 and the
Paternity affidavit has not been rescinded or set aside under
IC 16-37-2-2.1.

Your boyfriend needs an attorney... if only to find out the specific laws where you live.

A person signing a birth certificate is acknowlegment that the child is theirs. Legally he is the father and regardless what a private DNA test stated, he will be responsible for child support until a court says otherwise. A court will order another DNA test anyway.
On the same note, if he goes to court and gets child support stopped, he also will have no legal claim to that child, thus cannot force to be apart of the child's life.

He needs to start calling around and getting free consultations with attorney and find out the laws where you live and go from there.

If he wants to continue to enjoy the benefits of being the father of the child then do nothing otherwise if the mother chooses he will have nothing to do with the child and he has no say at all in that matter. He may be able to ask a court to amend the birth certificate to have his name removed because that does have implications beyond child support etc. If he asks the court to find the rightful father and gets a court ordered DNA test then he more then likely still have to pay child support until the father is found. So he needs to decide if leaving a void in this child's life is worth it or not. No one can predict the outcome of a hearing or trial. As far as getting child support returned to him I don't believe that's going to happen unless there is a separate action in civil court and a lot of winning and losing is perception. He can ask for many things but in the end he must decide on being a father or not to this child. Even if he decides to remain the father figure in this child's life I personally would pursue having my name removed from the birth certificate ( for medical reasons ) but file papers to always care for my child ( like a will or trust or insurance policies ) Only he can decide what's truly best for the child and pursue those avenues to their end.

You r boyfriend will need an attonrey, but if he wants to be the father, have visit rights and see the child, he needs to just keep paying his child support and fight for visit rights.

He can not have it both ways, if he challengs his being the father though DNA, then ( if this state allow the challenge) he will not longer be the father, child support will stop but he will have no legal rights to see or visit with the child.

My boyfriend was just told by an attorney that he wouldn't even accept his retainer fee.. He said that no court will bastard a child.. And even though he has resently found out after four years that his alleged daughter is not his ,there was not much to do and that he will remain finacially responsible for her until she is 18 or 21 years old. Paternity was established years ago when he signed the birth certificate, and he should have requested a DNA test then.. And it is simply too late, and there was no hope.. Can anyone help me on this... We need more options.

There are some states within the US, that if your name is on the birth certificate you only have a certain amount of years to challenge it, and if you don't you will be considered by law the parent.

So the attorney is most likely telling you the truth by your state law.
But as in any system, check with a second attorney to be sure.

Mod note: 2 threads merged.