Paternity Test - Honest Man Wanting To Know If Little Girl Is His?

[LovingFather01]

I could be the father of a 7 yr. old girl. The mother never told me about her because she had a boyfriend. Well, the boyfriend married her (after the child was born) and put his name on the birth cert.. They got divorced and found out that he wasn't the father. He contacted me and stated that I am the father of the girl because the mother told him that I was the father. He also said that he will testify in court that she stated that I was the father. I called her and she told me that she was 100% sure that I was the father and she agreed to do a paternity test. She also told a good friend of mine that I was the father. Now, she doesn't want to give me a paternity test and treatens to contact the local police if I try to contact her again. I just want to know if the girl is mine so I can take care of her and see her. I can't stop thinking about her...I need to know the truth!!!!!

Can I get a court order to make the mother give me a paternity test? If so, what steps do I need to take? Do I have any legal rights?

PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!

[Kitty C.]

If she claims you're the father, and plans to take you to court for child support, make sure you have a good family law atty. and make sure a paternity test is ordered.  If that's what she's demanding, she will be ordered to pay for it, as well.  She will court-ordered to make the child available for the test.

Right now, you can't be thinking about taking care of the child and seeing her, that will ONLY come IF you get a positive paternity test.  So first things first..........find a good atty., discuss what pertinent state laws would apply to your 'possible' situation, and wait for her to serve you.  Only then can you move forward legally.  You can sometimes get free legal consultations, which is a good way of weeding out and getting second opinions.

Technically, you could possibly file a paternity action against her, but then you would have to have an atty. on retainer (which can cost anywhere between $1500 and 10K) and you would be required to pay for the paternity test and court costs.  But since she's been lying to her ex all this time (probably just to have financial support), she could very likely be lying about this, too.  So wait for her to file if she wants it that bad and make her pay for it if she wants to prove it.

[babyfat]

1) legally the father of record is the ex husband with his name on the birth cert. Even if the paternity test says he is biologically not the father if his name is still on the birth cert his is in the eyes of the law. Of course he probably wants to help you because if he was able to remove his name from the birth cert he won't have to pay support anymore.
2) you are going to need a lawyer for this one because another man has already claimed he is the father and was so for 7 years. That puts this one in some murky legal waters. The court is going to want to keep dad #1 on the record as the father and it is going to take a legal battle to change that. Especally if mom is going to be an obstical which she appears to be doing. One thing you can do is call the local child support enforcement agency and tell them the story see what they tell you but I'd still rely mostly on what a lawyer tells you. If no father had been put on the birth cert you would be responcible for 7 years back support but that shouldn't be a problem since she cliamed another man is the father.