Ask Me Help Desk - Will I have to go to court?

Will I have to go to court?

Hi,
I got served with a summons for a Paternity test that I plan on answering with an objection. Will I have to go to court and attend a hearing? Or have to testify?

Here is a little bit of background: I live in the State of FL and I am married. I have an intact marriage and both my husband and I believe that my unborn child is his. We plan on contesting the Paternity suit.

Once we will file our answer saying we object to the Petition, what is going to happen?

:confused:

So you have an ex that filed to find out about paternity?

I had an affair. And the 3rd party (as I like to call him) is filing for Paternity.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sfltroubled

Hi,
I got served with a summons for a Paternity test that I plan on answering with an objection. Will I have to go to court and attend a hearing? Or have to testify?

Here is a little bit of background: I live in the State of FL and I am married. I have an intact marriage and both my husband and I believe that my unborn child is his. We plan on contesting the Paternity suit.

Once we will file our answer saying we object to the Petition, what is going to happen?

:confused:

I believe you need an attorney that is versed on paternity and constitutional issues. It used to be that paternity testing is postponed until after the birth of the child; perhaps this is the procedure now. If you were married at the time of conception, you might argue that a paternity test is an invasion of privacy and against public policy. Most court issues are resolved by hearings (evidence) and parties usually have to testify, unless there is a legal reason to protect their testimony, such as a privilege not to testify.

On what grounds do you feel you can object?

He has a right to establish paternity and find out for sure whether the child is his. I don't see a court granting your objection.

These are the grounds I feel I can object:

A putative father does not have standing to establish paternity of a child if the child was born into an intact marriage and the married woman and her husband object to the paternity action. Tijerino v. Estrella, 843 So.2d 984 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003). See also Bellomo v. Gagliano, 815 So.2d 721 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002), (A man had no right to seek to establish paternity of child born into an intact marriage when both mother and husband objected, even though the man claimed that he had regularly visited the child for 12 months and had tried to contribute financially to the child's care.)

Besides knowing that he is NOT the father. I have a meeting with a lawyer however, I was hoping for some more immediate answers on what to expect.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sfltroubled

These are the grounds I feel I can object:

A putative father does not have standing to establish paternity of a child if the child was born into an intact marriage and the married woman and her husband object to the paternity action. Tijerino v. Estrella, 843 So.2d 984 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003). See also Bellomo v. Gagliano, 815 So.2d 721 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002), (A man had no right to seek to establish paternity of child born into an intact marriage when both mother and husband objected, even though the man claimed that he had regularly visited the child for 12 months and had tried to contribute financially to the child's care.)

Seems to me that you are on the right path. While these annotations provide the results of the cases, they do not provide the reasons for the decisions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sfltroubled

These are the grounds I feel I can object:

A putative father does not have standing to establish paternity of a child if the child was born into an intact marriage and the married woman and her husband object to the paternity action. Tijerino v. Estrella, 843 So.2d 984 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003). See also Bellomo v. Gagliano, 815 So.2d 721 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002), (A man had no right to seek to establish paternity of child born into an intact marriage when both mother and husband objected, even though the man claimed that he had regularly visited the child for 12 months and had tried to contribute financially to the child's care.)

Besides knowing that he is NOT the father. I have a meeting with a lawyer however, I was hoping for some more immediate answers on what to expect.

Well researched. Good luck to you.