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toriehabiger · Aug 23, 2011, 11:20 AM

My brother in-law is from Alaska and is currently married and in the military. About 9 months ago he received a notice in the mail that he is being required to pay child support.

He has serious doubts that the child is even his, has asked for a paternity test several times and received no reply. He and his wife, (my sister), were told if they wanted to do anything about it, they would have to do it in person, in Alaska.

He is currently paying, but wants to know what his rights to a Paternity test and visitation are. He cannot handle this matter in person as he is deployed and they won't give his wife the time of day.

They are currently living in Lemoore CA. He believes the girl and alleged son are in Alaska but no one can confirm the information. They say he has no legal right to know. Should he be getting a lawyer at this point? Does he have rights to testing and visitation?

cdad · Aug 23, 2011, 11:48 AM

He has every right to know. Also being in the military there may be special rules involved where he doesn't have to appear. But he will need representation on his behalf. He needs to start making the demands inside a courtroom.

Where was the original filing?

Fr_Chuck · Aug 23, 2011, 01:16 PM

Actually when he should have gotten an attorney was when he got the letter, before he paid a penny. Since paying is like admitting.

But yes you get an attorney where the child support order is at. He will need to request a paternity test, request visitation and request that as part of the child custody agreement he be made away of the address of the child and a method to contact. ( assuming child is his)

His "asking" has no effect and is a waste of time, he has to ASK by making motions in court to have this done

Skill7D · Aug 23, 2011, 08:15 PM

If he was deployed when the order was established that order should be vacated (I worked on one of these cases today). The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (http://www.standingupforillinois.org/pdf/homefront/SCRA.pdf ) provides basic protection against default judgments and stays of court proceedings if you are unavailable to attend court because of military service.

They should definitely get an attorney ("(2) Appointment of attorney to represent defendant in military service. If in an action covered by this section it appears that the defendant is in military service, the court may not enter a judgment until after the court appoints an attorney to represent the defendant. If an attorney appointed under this section to represent a servicemember cannot locate the servicemember, actions by the attorney in the case shall not waive any defense of the servicemember or otherwise bind the
servicemember." from page 9 on the link above)

In the meantime he should fill out a power of attorney form (a notarized statement works in most states) naming your sister as his representative and file it with Alaska's CSEA. This will allow your sister to get info from Alaska about the case. She can ask them specifically what needs to be filed in order to get a Genetic Marker Test to prove paternity.

GV70 · Aug 24, 2011, 05:02 PM

Originally Posted by Skill7D

If he was deployed when the order was established that order should be vacated (I worked on one of these cases today). .

Not always... Have you ever heard about the doctrine of waiver?
If he
1. never asked for stay of proceeding
2. has ability to appear but did not appear
3.voluntary pays child support
/ I worked on several cases/

Then the doctrine of waiver is applicable and the court is not under obligation to re-open the case notwithstanding the father is a service member or not.