I live in Virginia. My boyfriend has a child with his x girlfriend. He signed the birth certificate and recently he has found out information that his daughter may not be his. Can he request a paternity test? There are no child support or custody paperwork on file as of yet. His daughter is 15 months old, she also is no longer letting him see her. Also, does he need to have a lawyer to file for a paternity test? Or can he do it himself?:confused:

Thanks!

He can file for custody and child support. If there is really a question then he could ask for DNA to be done. Does he really want to do that to the child?

Statutes in Virginia allow a court challenge to paternity at any time. In this state, a signatory wishing to rescind could use those statutes to bring suit.
§ 20-49.10. Relief from legal determination of paternity.

An individual may file a petition for relief and, except as provided herein, the court may set aside a final judgment, court order, administrative order, obligation to pay child support or any legal determination of paternity if a scientifically reliable genetic test performed in accordance with this chapter establishes the exclusion of the individual named as a father in the legal determination. The court shall appoint a guardian ad litem to represent the interest of the child. The petitioner shall pay the costs of such test. A court that sets aside a determination of paternity in accordance with this section shall order completion of a new birth record and may order any other appropriate relief, including setting aside an obligation to pay child support. No support order may be retroactively modified, but may be modified with respect to any period during which there is a pending petition for relief from a determination of paternity, but only from the date that notice of the petition was served on the nonfiling party.

A court shall not grant relief from determination of paternity if the individual named as father (I) acknowledged paternity knowing he was not the father, (ii) adopted the child, or (iii) knew that the child was conceived through artificial insemination.

He's found out from multiple people that his x was messing around with another guy around the time that she got pregnant. He is heartbroken that he is not able to see the baby but he knows that she deserves to have her real father. The baby is not old enough to even remember him when she gets older, so now would be the most opportune time to do this...

He was also giving her child support before she stopped allowing him to see the baby. He is a good father and he's hurt by what his x is doing but it's not fair to him to stay around a child that is not his.

Then his only option is to take it to court and get things settled. He can ask for visitation etc and have support set up. If he is seeing her at all now he can do a home test when he is with her. The only difference would be it can't be used in court and at least it would settle his mind.