CS never established

[smtotwo]

           My son is now 24. from the time he was 2 until he was 13 I have tried to get his father to take a DNA test so that CS could be established.

2 states and 4 different counties later he NEVER appeared for any hearing, was never declared the father by default, therefore no CS.

He would LOVE to go to college and he should, but we cannot afford it.

Its not about me having supported him alone his whole life, but about his father contributing something to him.

He knows about our son, but has never seen him.

1) How do I go about trying again to establish support?


2) Can I go after any of the counties involved who simply dropped the issue when he didn't reply to their letters, or show for hearings?

3)  Should I go to all involved counties and get copies of files that were opened but never completed?

Thanks

 

[socrateaser]

>1) How do I go about trying again to establish support?

Under constitutional law, a court must have jurisdiction over the parties to the case at issue before the court. Personal jurisdiction requires that a party be served notice of a pending legal action, and that they have a meaningful opportunity to appear and defend. You don't say that the father was ever served, however, if he was served, then the court would have personal jurisdiction.

However, most courts have a time limit for a pending case to remain open, after which, the case is automatiicaly dismissed without prejudice, meaning that the complaining party can reopen the case on the same evidence at a later date. Unfortunately, when a case is dismissed, the other party, even if they were served, is no longer subject to the personal jurisdiction of the court, which means that you would have to serve the father again. Only now, the child is an adult and so you have no right to petition the court for child support.

The only way that I can see for you to get around this, would be if you received a default judgment of paternity at some time in the past, but you have never tried to enforce it. Your facts seem to indicate that you were never able to establish paternity. If this is the case, and the child is now an adult, then you have no case, unless by some fluke one of your cases is still open and was never dismissed.

If so, then you could ask for the court to order the father to appear and submit to a paternity test, and if he refuses, the court may find against him anyway. After which, you would be entitled to a judgment of support retroactive to the original date of the filing of the paternity action.

I don't really have enough facts for a meaningful eval at the moment. Mainly, you need to tell me if all of the prior actions were dismissed for failure to prosecute (if it's been 11 years, then I can't imagine they weren't, but who knows).