Paying child support can be a frustrating experience, especially when the child is not biologically yours. A CBS article reported a Dallas man was jailed because it was alleged he owed more than $50,000 in unpaid child support to a child that turned out was not his. The passing of a new Texas paternity law that gives men who doubt paternity a chance to file...
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By Daniel Lambert Cordell & Cordell Family Law Attorney Each state will have its own laws and regulations governing paternity and child support. Where I practice, child support is set in paternity actions pursuant to each party’s income and the placement/visitation schedule awarded to each party. Child support only becomes effective through an order of the court. If there is no court order for child...
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Paternity Laws Question: My wife and I are getting divorced. She is pregnant with another man’s baby and will probably have the baby before our divorce is final. What do I need to do to protect myself against having to pay child support for the child that is not biologically mine, but will likely be born while I am married to the child’s mother? Do...
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Marriage rates have reached an all-time low meaning more children are being born out of wedlock. This issue of paternity is one of the more complex areas of family law. Many men are curious about what an unwed father’s legal responsibilities are to a child born outside of a marriage. Will he automatically have to pay child support? Is he the legal father of the...
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A package of laws designed to give biological fathers rights when their child is born to a married woman is awaiting a vote in the Michigan legislature. Currently, Michigan law does not give parental rights to biological fathers if the mother of the child is married at the time of the child’s birth to another man. Daniel Quinn wanted visitation rights and to pay child...
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A stepfather is just as much a father as the biological dad when it comes to paternity suits, according to the Minnesota Court of Appeals. The court ruled that the child’s stepfather as well as the child’s biological father should both be parties when the legal presumption of fatherhood is decided on matters establishing paternity and child support.
Paternity law is one of the fastest growing areas of family law due to the increasing number of children born out of wedlock. When financially supporting the child through child support is involved, this confusing area of law becomes even more complex. In this divorce article, I’ll review two major issues of paternity law: signing the birth certificate will not necessarily obligate a man to...
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The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a gender-based discrimination law that treats men and women differently when it comes to citizenship, according to the Associated Press. The court dismissed Mexican-born Ruben Flores-Villar’s challenge of the citizenship law. Currently, children born overseas who have one U.S.-citizen parent can obtain U.S. citizenship if the citizen parent had been physically present in the U.S. for a certain period...
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The case of a New Mexico man who paid for a billboard ad to protest his ex-girlfriend’s decision to have an abortion against his wishes has once again brought up the father’s rights and paternity rights issue of whether a man should have the right to stop a woman from aborting their child. According to the Associated Press, a billboard in New Mexico shows 35-year-old...
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Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “love child” has brought greater attention to a critical flaw in many states’ paternity laws; that a child “of the marriage” is the responsibility of the husband even if the child is not his. In general, according to Cordell & Cordell mens divorce attorney Leslie Lorenzano, if the husband and wife are still technically married when a child is born, the husband is...
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