Texas Paternity Fraud: I’m Not the Father So Why the Child Support?
What if a man has been named the father of a child, but has to pay child support because he missed court or was misled into signing a paternity statement without a DNA test? Although the Texas Family Code covers a wide range of legal issues from divorce, child custody and spousal support to modifications of custody and visitation because of parental relocation, one Texas paternity provision was recently changed regarding the need to correct paternity mistakes with DNA testing. Prior to the passage of Texas Senate Bill 785, a man could only request a paternity test prior to a legal designation of fatherhood. If he did not assert that right before a legal declaration was made, contesting paternity later – even with DNA evidence – was almost impossible. This put men who had been deceived about babies’ parentage in unacceptable positions of having to support children not their own until adulthood. Texas Governor Rick Perry signed SB 785 into law last year after a legislative battle that had lasted six years. The law provides for a new process that allows men to file petitions of mistaken paternity to challenge wrongful determinations that they are fathers and thus obligated to pay child support. The new law, Texas Family Code section 161.005, also means that a man who signs an acknowledgement of paternity, or AOP, form at the hospital after a child’s birth can later challenge paternity with a DNA test. As with all Texas family law cases involving children, their best interests should be taken into account by courts before terminating parent-child relationships. Future child support obligations will be terminated if court-ordered DNA testing shows that a man is not the father of a child and the petitioner shows that he was under a mistaken belief that the child was his because of the mother’s misrepresentations. However, child support reimbursement under these circumstances is not authorized by the bill, and past-due child support, including interest, is still enforceable by contempt of court. Situations Not Subject to Mistaken Paternity Petitions Under certain circumstances, men are not allowed to petition the court for termination of child support obligations. A man cannot file a petition for mistaken paternity if:- He is the child’s adoptive father.
- He consented to assisted reproduction by his wife as defined by Texas law.
- He is the intended father of a child conceived under a gestational agreement as defined by Texas law.
- Marriage of the child
- Removal of a disability that justified child support
- Death of the child
- Emancipation of the child (reaching 18 years of age)
- The child’s enlistment in the U.S. armed forces, as of the date of active service