Paternity Shows Not the Father - Still Made to Pay Child Support

My question involves child support in the State of: MASS

My husband is still being made to pay child support in the state of MA for a child that he has proven is not his, by paying for a paternity test out of his own pocket. The mother of the child refuses to lift the child support order even though she has said she knows my husband is not the father of her daughter. What do we do?? The child is now 7 years old.

Was the paternity test court-ordered?

If not, it really doesn't affect the child support order.

No - the paternity test was not court ordered. Its extremely frustrating because we are struggling to support our family and our money is going towards a child that isn't even his.

Then presumably he has been held by the court - or CSE - to be the child's legal father.

Was he married to Mom?

If so, when did they divorce?

Your husband needs to go speak to an experienced family law lawyer in your area.

In some situations it doesn't matter if the man is actually biologically related to the child. If he is the only father this child has ever known, the court can (and often does) decide that it's in the child's best interest to maintain the relationship.

Was he ever married to this woman?

Did he sign the child birth certificate?

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Quoting shavrly

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No - the paternity test was not court ordered. Its extremely frustrating because we are struggling to support our family and our money is going towards a child that isn't even his.

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How sweet.

He is LEGALLY the child's father. If, in a timely manner, he contested paternity, he may have had recourse. He did not. He sat on his hands. Too late now to contest. Hopefully he still has a good relationship with this child despite your bitterness.

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Quoting Lawrence084

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Was he ever married to this woman?

Did he sign the child birth certificate?

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After SEVEN years none of this matters. He is LEGALLY DAD.

It surprises me that it took 7 years for anything to happen... My assumptions say that now new wife and dad have their own little precious family and new wife is upset that some of her money is going to a kid that isn't "his"...
I hope the dad continues to have a relationship with the child, despite biological factors and that the new wife gets over it, and maybe rearrange their finances and budget to include this child.

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Quoting Baystategirl

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After SEVEN years none of this matters. He is LEGALLY DAD.

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True...He is LEGALLY DAD

But the OP is looking for something that she can make a case for. If she answers "No" to both questions, she'll have path to pursue. And if she answered "Yes" to either one of them, then at least she know why he paying support even though the child is not his.

We are talking about children and families lives and a lot of money. I am sure some reason instead of stating a fact, would be helpful to the OP.

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Quoting Lawrence084

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True...He is LEGALLY DAD

But the OP is looking for something that she can make a case for. If she answers "No" to both questions, she'll have path to pursue. And if she answered "Yes" to either one of them, then at least she know why he paying support even though the child is not his.

We are talking about children and families lives and a lot of money. I am sure some reason instead of stating a fact, would be helpful to the OP.

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If Dad is - as OP said - "being made to pay child support", then Dad has been found to be LEGALLY the father. The child IS HIS.

It doesn't matter whether he was married to Mom at this point (having checked the statute myself), OR whether he signed an AOP.

It really doesn't matter.

He is legally Dad, and no longer has standing to disestablish paternity.

Furthermore...OP has NO path to pursue whatsoever even if this wasn't the case.

OP has no legal standing to do a darned thing. This is not her legal matter. Period.

Even if.