Does an Unwed Mother Have the Right to Say No to Establishing Paternity

TNmom3 · #1 04-19-2009, 10:44 PM

My question involves paternity law for the State of: Tennessee

im unmarried and my son is three years old his father has had nothing to do with him what so ever until i recently started getting letters from child support enforcement to establish paternity .. do i have the right to say no what are the laws about this... someone please help me..

mmmagique · #2 04-20-2009, 12:55 AM

Nope. The state is acting in the best interests of your child. (financially, and most likely emotionally)
You must follow the court's order.

Greatmom · #3 04-20-2009, 09:56 AM

There are 2 reasons they're doing this. 1 the father of the child has started this process. 2 you are recieving or have recieved public assistance. If #2 is the case u must deal with it or be responsibile for repayment of the assistance recieved.

mmmagique · #4 04-20-2009, 10:53 PM

She has to deal with it regardless.
If she were allowed to ignore it just because she didn't want anything to do with the father, then why couldn't fathers do it for the same reason?

TNmom3 · #5 04-21-2009, 06:56 PM

.. it was not a court order it was a letter telling me to bring him to a rescue squad building from the child support enforcement agency for testing. i signed custody over to my parents when he was 1 year old.

Xena · #6 04-21-2009, 07:18 PM

Quoting TNmom3

.. it was not a court order it was a letter telling me to bring him to a rescue squad building from the child support enforcement agency for testing. i signed custody over to my parents when he was 1 year old.

Yes, you are legally required to cooperate with the DNA testing. If you refuse, the CSE agency can get a court order, then if you still refuse you could face some serious problems.

rspahr · #7 04-28-2009, 02:44 PM

I have a question on this as well. My daughter, who is now 18, recently gave birth. There was no father on the birth certificate. He did not want to have anything to do with her during pregnancy..and has shown little interest since the birth. However, he would like to 'see' the baby. Are we under any obligation to do so?

And, what steps would he have to go through to establish paternity? And, what could that mean for our daughter and us. She is living at home and we are primary support while she finishes high school (May) and attends college (August).

Thanks.

jk · #8 04-28-2009, 02:59 PM

Quoting rspahr

I have a question on this as well. My daughter, who is now 18, recently gave birth. There was no father on the birth certificate. He did not want to have anything to do with her during pregnancy..and has shown little interest since the birth. However, he would like to 'see' the baby. Are we under any obligation to do so?

And, what steps would he have to go through to establish paternity? And, what could that mean for our daughter and us. She is living at home and we are primary support while she finishes high school (May) and attends college (August).

Thanks.

You should start your own thread but simply:

Quote:

Are we under any obligation to do so?

Until such time paternity is legally established and a court orders visitation; no

Quote:

And, what steps would he have to go through to establish paternity?

file suit with the courts who would order a paternity test.

Quote:

And, what could that mean for our daughter and us

dad could sue for visitation, or even custody. Whomever is the custodial parent could request child support from the other parent.