Paternity, Custody & Child Support:

The law of paternity is relatively new and is unique. It is perhaps the most complex law in the family law area. Paternity is new because, up until less than forty years ago, Missouri, and most states placed the financial burden of raising a child born out of wedlock solely on the mother. But 40 years ago, children born outside of marriage were rare, and made up of less than five percent of all the children born in the United States nationwide, triggering the creation of a huge governmental bureaucracy whose sole purpose is to collect child support. Today, four in ten children are born out of wedlock.

1. The Birth Certificate. Missouri is one of many states that have adopted a confusing rule on the signing of the birth affidavit. If a man and a woman both sign an affidavit (for a child born after August 1997) stating that the man is the natural father and the affidavit is filed with the Department of Vital Statistics, the man is then the legal father of the child. What that means regarding his rights the child is unclear. If the man changes his mind, he has sixty days to file a document revoking his claim. If he doesn’t, he is required to file a special lawsuit to undo it, and he has an extremely limited time to do that. For children born before August 1997, either party could file a suit asking the court to determine whether the man was the father of the child (or not).



2. Child Support. A support obligation can come from a court order or from an order from the Family Support Division (FSD). FSD is the federally funded government bureaucracy that is to create and enforce support orders, as well as to collect, disburse and maintain records, of support payments. FSD has authority to create support orders if a man signed the birth affidavit, was married to the mother around the time of the birth of the child, or if FSD has a genetic test stating that the man is the natural father of the child. The method of determining the amount of the support obligation is the formula based on incomes and special expenses, the same as in divorce cases.



3. Custody. Only a court can grant or determine custody, visitation, or decision-making rights for a child. A parent should retain an experienced Family Law attorney experienced in paternity cases to obtain child custody rights. As with divorce cases, the court could grant sole physical or legal custody of a child, or could grant joint physical or legal custody of a child. A child support order from FSD is not a child custody order. An administrative child support order from FSD might say the child is in someone’s custody. That simply means the child is residing with the person. It does not mean the child is their custody.



4. Paternity testing: Only federally licensed laboratories can perform paternity testing. Generally, only a court can “force” persons to appear or produce a child for paternity testing. FSD may request persons appear for paternity testing, and, if FSD receives a positive result, then it may create a child support order. If a court orders paternity testing, and the alleged father does not appear, the court could enter a judgment finding that the man is the father of the child and establish the child’s paternity. When a court has established paternity in a court order, then generally a court cannot order paternity testing.

If you or someone you know in Missouri is in need of Family Law Legal Services, please contact Family Lawyer Alan W. Cohen at (314)863-8800 or via the contact form in right column for prompt and considerate attention.

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