[jjhendrickfan]

I am 30 years old and want to know who my father is the man my mother is saying is now 77 years old he was married at the time he was with my mother has 8 other children can I force him to take a paternity test because if its not him I want to keep looking my mother sayes there are no possible others what can I do

[JudyKayTee]

i am 30 years old and want to know who my father is the man my mother is saying is now 77 years old he was married at the time he was with my mother has 8 other children can i force him to take a paternity test because if its not him i want to keep looking my mother sayes there are no possible others what can i do

No, you have no grounds to force this man to take a DNA test if he does not want to. He would have to agree.

In cases like this the "parent" is very, very reluctant, particularly if he has other children, because no one wants you to be able to file a claim against his estate when he dies.

I know you just want peace of mind but the "estate" thing does become an issue.

[GV70]

Suggest you contact a family law lawyer and discuss the possibility of filing a legal action seeking a "DECLARATORY JUDGMENT"A "suit for declaratory judgment" is a lawsuit in which you ask the court to exam the case facts and render a judgment declaring "rights, status and other legal relations whether or not further relief is or could be claimed." Further, "the declaration may be either affirmative or negative in form and effect; and such declarations shall have the force and effect of a final judgment or decree."

Here, you would be asking the court to render a judgment declaring whether the putative father is or is not your legal parent, based on the underlying biological facts. And to assist the court in making that determination, you would ask the court for an order for DNA parentage tests, doing so as part of pretrial discovery.

NOTE: No guarantee that this procedure will work successfully

[Fr_Chuck]

Normally no you can't but you can also see if some of the other children will agree to a test it can prove if you have the same father or not.