New CS case

[smtotwo]

While reviewing my current support payments on our states website, I found a NEW child support case.

The custodial parent is listed as my brothers ex-g/f and I 'm listed as non-cutodial parent.

While no paternity tests were ever done the child is now 8 yrs old and my brothers name isonthe birth certificate. There is a chance that the child is mine, but brother signed affidavit of paternity.

CS is closed today so I can't reach them.

Brother is over $40,000 in arrears to ex #1 and has a felony warrant out for failure to pay.  He has essentially disappeared, probably working for cash.

If I knew where he was I'd be the first to tell them.  But now this order is on MY NAME and FILED with CS.  I was never served any papers, and even if DNA proved the child to be mine the time limit has passed for them to contest brothers affidavit of paternity.

We're in Wisconsin.

Can they order CS from me when my brother is listed on the certified copy of B/C as father?

Where do you suggest I start getting this corrected?

Thanks Soc.

[socrateaser]

>Can they order CS from me when my brother is listed on the
>certified copy of B/C as father?

If your brother was actually adjudged by a court to be the child's father, then that judgment would preclude a new paternity action against a different putative father, unless WI law has some specific provision for overturning final paternity judgments, in which case, you need to investigate the specific grounds that permits a set aside of the judgment, to see if the state's action satisfies those grounds.

If your brother was never adjudged the father by a court, then the State would be free to seek a paternity action against you, and your brother may have an action against the state for negligence.

>Where do you suggest I start getting this corrected?

There is a conflict between the state's interests in the child, and your interests in due process. It could get ugly. If you haven't been served, you may want to move to a different state (if there already exists a final judgment against your brother), because by doing so, you could invoke the federal full faith and credit clause of the U.S. Constitution in the new state and thereby quash any WI support order.

On the other hand, if you know for a certainty that you're not the father, then you have no reason not to take the paternity test, but there may be an issue of DNA typing being so close between you and your brother that you cannot be ruled out by the test. This would be a reason to have a court look much further into the facts than normal in order to make certain that you're not really the father, and you may need an expert witness in DNA testing to explain to the court what the real likelihood of an error in this case may be, because it is possible that state law could legally find you the father on the basis of the probability of accuracy, when in fact, because it's you and your brother, that your brother's test may be even a closer match than your own.

You need a local attorney -- you're situation is potentially very messy.

DON'T contact the state child support agency until you talk to a lawyer and lay out all of the facts (which must be real interesting, I'll bet).