[hipdog65]

My question involves paternity law for the State of: Washington. I had a relationship with a married woman nearly two years ago. When she became pregnant her husband demanded she sign a no contact order and she complied. This kept me from any knowledge of the health of my child and kept me from being at the birth. Before the birth of the child, I went to an arbitrators office to have them contact the mother and see about getting a parenting plan started. She declined. I waited until the twelve months of my no contact order was over and called her to again ask to meet and create a parenting plan. She again declined. Later that day her husband called and accused me of harrassment. I then stated that I would be seeking legal council and if they wished to stay out of court an arbitrator would be best. I was met with hostility. Finally two months later, the mother called to apologize and allowed me to see my daughter. I found out later she did this behind her husbands back. Long story short, last time I saw her she was twelve months old, now she is seventeen months and I will not be able to afford a lawyer for two months. I had been laid off from work for the last five months. I want to establish paternity and have a part in my daughters life. The mother's husband is adamant that he will fight me all the way. They have even hinted that they may charge me with rape, and may leave the state. I know that they are just trying to scare me away, but still I feel that time may be against me. Can they keep me out of my child's life? What advice can you give me?

[distressedmom]

You may qualify for some type of legal aid, or perhaps an attorney will work pro bono. I am not an attorney, but by reading other similar posts, it sounds like you need to file a paternity suit. In the suit you will need to settle that you are the legal father, and then work out a parenting and support plan. Some courts have self-help areas and can tell you what forms to file and how to properly serve the other party.

Even though the husband may the presumed father because he is married to the mother of the child, dna tests can prove you are the father.

I admire you are fighting for your child. She will remember that when she is older. Best of luck.

[aaron]

Are we to infer that you have not been identified as the child's father? That the husband has been?

The husband is presumed the father of the child:

(1) A man is presumed to be the father of a child if:

(a) He and the mother of the child are married to each other and the child is born during the marriage;

(b) He and the mother of the child were married to each other and the child is born within three hundred days after the marriage is terminated by death, annulment, dissolution of marriage, legal separation, or declaration of invalidity;

(c) Before the birth of the child, he and the mother of the child married each other in apparent compliance with law, even if the attempted marriage is, or could be, declared invalid and the child is born during the invalid marriage or within three hundred days after its termination by death, annulment, dissolution of marriage, legal separation, or declaration of invalidity; or

(d) After the birth of the child, he and the mother of the child have married each other in apparent compliance with law, whether or not the marriage is, or could be declared invalid, and he voluntarily asserted his paternity of the child, and:

(i) The assertion is in a record filed with the state registrar of vital statistics;

(ii) Agreed to be and is named as the child's father on the child's birth certificate; or

(iii) Promised in a record to support the child as his own.

(2) A presumption of paternity established under this section may be rebutted only by an adjudication under RCW 26.26.500 through 26.26.630.

If you have not yet adjudicated parentage, you're coming close to a hard deadline:

(1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (2) of this section, a proceeding brought by a presumed father, the mother, or another individual to adjudicate the parentage of a child having a presumed father must be commenced not later than two years after the birth of the child.

(2) A proceeding seeking to disprove the father-child relationship between a child and the child's presumed father may be maintained at any time if the court determines that:

(a) The presumed father and the mother of the child neither cohabited nor engaged in sexual intercourse with each other during the probable time of conception; and

(b) The presumed father never openly treated the child as his own.

The husband may attempt to convince the court that it's not in the child's best interest to allow genetic testing to dispute his paternity. RCW 26.26.535.