My husband found out a few years ago that another woman he'd dated had a son they believed to be his, but paternity was never established. He's tried to have contact with the boy over the years, but nothing has really worked out. The boy is now 16 years old and just this week my husband got a call telling him he was going to have to pay back child support or go to jail. My husband was not listed on the boy's birth certificate and has never gone to court to establish any kind of child support obligations. Can he be forced to pay back child support? What are our legal obligations? What can we do?

Well first of get a paternity test completed, and then we can talk about child support. Did an attorney contact you about paying back child support? In any case you need to contact an attorney and speak with them; his ex-partner may just be threatening. Even though he is not listen on his birth certificate that does not mean he isn't legally the father. Now in your defense if your husband can prove that he tired indeed to establish communications with this boy, and nothing ever came of it. A judge may look at it as he or the mother never needed a assistance to begin with. The Judge as well may ask why the mother has waited 16 years to ask for child support.

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Originally Posted by Kalibit

My husband found out a few years ago that another woman he'd dated had a son they believed to be his, but paternity was never established. He's tried to have contact with the boy over the years, but nothing has really worked out. The boy is now 16 years old and just this week my husband got a call telling him he was going to have to pay back child support or go to jail. My husband was not listed on the boy's birth certificate and has never gone to court to establish any kind of child support obligations. Can he be forced to pay back child support? What are our legal obligations? What can we do?

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In the state of Ohio one cannot go back to the day of birth to claim child support.you can only start from the day that you established child support.do DNA then go from there

Since he never signed the birth certificate and has not yet been legally presumed the father, he cannot he ordered to pay anything until a DNA test is ordered and has proven he is the father.

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Originally Posted by parrotgirl

in the state of ohio one cannot go back to the day of birth to claim child support.you can only start from the day that you established child support.do DNA then go from there

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While this may hold true in THIS case, since this man has never been legally presumed the father... it does not hold true in all cases. If a father acknowledges being the legal father by signing the birth certificate he is responsible for paying support from the day the child was born. If he can show no proof that he has done so, he would be responsible for all back child support from the day the child was born.

I am in Ohio, and my daughters father was held accountable for all back child support, dated back to the day she was born.

If there was no support order ever established, and from the tone of your post it seems like there wasn't, then you should have nothing to worry about. I'd confront the party that made the call to your husband to find out just where they're coming from. It's possible that he's just now being sued for child support for the 16-year-old in question. However in order for that to stick, paternity has to be proven.

https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/family...nt-107108.html This man was determined to be the father by default... interesting problem.. I hope it is not your case.
I know a man in Ohio that had to go back from day one when the child was born and pay, he slept with the girl once when he was 17 and he was in his late 20's with a family when CSEA contacted him. He took the test, the boy belonged to him and he started making payments I believe it was something to the tune of 40,000 dollars behind.

In some states, if paternity was not established at birth and was never established until time for child support to be ordered, then the courts will only order so many years back. Some will not order any back child support. Depending on the circumstances.

First of course who called you and told you that? Now of course the defense in court ( they can not do anything until you go to court, unless they somewhow went to court without you) but you hire an attorney and fight it.