Paternity / Child support situation

My husband and I have been together now for 11 years, ever since I was 17 and he was 19. We have been married now for 8 years. We have four legitimate children together. We received a letter from the city and county of Honolulu that his prior girlfriend is in the process of establishing the paternity of her daughter born on 05/13/1996.

She left my husband in November of 1995, and was pregnant. She claimed that the child was my husbands and wanted child support, however, when my husband requested a DNA test, she just ignored the issue and left the state. We also moved to another state in June of 1996. During this whole entire time of 10 1/2 years, there has been no contact made to my husband. We have not been hidden, he is in the military so it is not hard to find him if she wanted to actively pursue child support. Besides, my husband's aunt is married to her brother, so she would know exactly where to go to find him.

This woman has since had a boyfriend who the child believes is her real father, and in fact, the child goes to Florida to visit this man on a regular basis because he and her mother are no longer together. I just dont understand why after 10 1/2 years now she decides to petition for paternity and child support. My husband has no idea what this child looks like, her name, he knows nothing of her.

Anyhow, we will go and pick up the petition and my husband will take a DNA test to determine paternity. If in fact the test comes back positive that he is the biological father, what do we do now? I mean, all of sudden now we are supposed to accept responsibility for this child even though the mother has waited 10 years to file for paternity and child support? Due to her rejection of taking the first DNA test 10 years ago and abscence on her part, my husband ended the relationship and that was the end of it until now. Is the mother not penalized in someway for failing to pursue this action at a substantially earlier time?

I do not want to appear coldhearted as I am a mother of four children, but now this action could definetely impinge on our financial and living situation.
We do not know who is named as the father on the birth certificate. Is there any law, bill, or act that works in my husbands favor of not paying child support to this woman because of the significant time lapse of 10 1/2 years?

I mean if we end up having to pay child support, then we will do it but I just want to know if we can even make a legitimate argument against having to pay child support based on the grounds that the mother waited 10 1/2 years to file for child support and paternity and all the while has had her daughter establish and parent/child relationship with another man who by the way, has acted and financially supported this child as if he were the biological father, and all of this unknown to my husband until now. What can we do?

Thank you for any information that you can provide us wth.

Both the mother and putative father can initiate paternity proceeding, and ask a court to order DNA testing.

If your husband is determined to be the father through DNA testing, he will be entitled to petition a court for visitation, and the mother will be able to seek child support.

no he is not determined to be the father. you really didnt answer any of my questions. I know that both the mother and putative father can request for DNA. forget it, this was no help.

There's a difference between not getting a helpful answer and not getting the answer you wanted. You're disappointed because you didn't get the answer you wanted.

You didnt give a helpful answer, you gave an answer to a question we didnt even ask. I was dissapointed because I wasnt given an answer to any of the questions I had asked.

These are the questions that I asked:

1.)If in fact that paternity test comes back positive that my husband is the father, all of sudden now we are supposed to accept responsibility for this child even though the mother has waited 10 years to file for paternity and child support?

2.)Due to her rejection of taking the first DNA test 10 years ago and abscence on her part, my husband ended the relationship and that was the end of it until now. Is the mother not penalized in someway for failing to pursue this action at a substantially earlier time?

3.)Is there any law, bill, or act that works in my husbands favor of not paying child support to this woman because of the significant time lapse of 10 1/2 years?


4.)I just want to know [Can] we even make a legitimate argument against having to pay child support based on the grounds that the mother waited 10 1/2 years to file for child support and paternity and all the while has had her daughter establish and parent/child relationship with another man who by the way, has acted and financially supported this child as if he were the biological father, and all of this unknown to my husband until now?

If you didn not understand the answer, you could have said so. You don't need to be rude.

If he is determined to be the father and the mother requests support, he will be ordered to pay child support. Clear enough?