Support and Paternity

My question involves child support in the State of: Louisiana

I have a question about support on behalf of my father. He has a "child" that is 11 or 12 years of age. He met a woman and was married within a few months. After a few months of marriage she was pregnant and decided that the marriage was not working so she filed for divorce. The child was born and my father signed the birth certificate with out question. He began paying child support. This continued for a few years and in that time he was only allowed to see the child maybe 3 or 4 times by the mother. He lost his job shortly after that and she filed for court order support and garnishment because he lived in Tennessee and she lives in Louisiana. He asked for a paternity test at the time but was told that because he signed the certificate he was responsible. He has no problem taking care of the child if it is his as he has been paying child support for the past 11 or 12 years. But she refuses to let his see the child or pictures or any contact. In fact he has not heard anything from the woman and child in over 5 years because she cannot be located but yet he still pays support. Is there anyway to get a paternity test from the support enforcement of make them submit to one if he pays for it. Louisiana will not work with him or provide any information; they say it has been way to long to determine paternity since the child is 11 or 12. He currently lives in Wisconsin and doesn’t have money for a legal battle but what can we do. I live in La and his 28-year-old daughter trying to help. It just seems off that he has to pay child support for a child that may or may not be his and the mother can vanish put his check is still garnished. Any info or when to look would be greatly appreciated!

He is absolutely free to file for visitation of his child.

It's far too late for him to contest paternity. He is legally the child's father; biology is no longer an issue.

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Quoting smeagles

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It just seems off that he has to pay child support for a child that may or may not be his and the mother can vanish put his check is still garnished.

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That's because no matter WHERE the child is, and whether dad pursues visitation or not, the child needs food, water, clothing, shelter, etc. Support and visitation are completely separate legal animals. The courts look out for the best interest of the child in securing financial support. It's up to parents to pursue visitation for themselves. Some are happy to never see the child again, others grieve in horrible agony over missing their children. Where a parent falls between those two extremes generally determines to what extent they attempt to secure visitation and enforce their rights regarding their children.

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she filed for divorce. The child was born and my father signed the birth certificate with out question. He began paying child support. This continued for a few years He asked for a paternity test at the time but was told that because he signed the certificate he was responsible

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Right. The times for him to have challenged paternity were (a) before signing the birth certificate, especially in light of such an incredibly short marriage, or (b) at the time that the child support case was heard. Once both of those opportunities have passed, it's over...he's the child's legal father regardless of what DNA would say at this point.

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He currently lives in Wisconsin and doesn’t have money for a legal battle but what can we do.

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First, he needs to re-read his divorce order to see what the CURRENT state of his custody/visitation is - it's important to be sure of his starting point, lest he waste time/money on a fruitless journey or one in the wrong direction. If the divorce degree spells out some form of visitation, and that visitation has been violated, he can bring a case for contempt - but he needs to be aware that no judge is going to be sympathetic to a father who waited THIS long (5 years!) before taking action.


If his divorce decree didn't spell out any visitation, then, he'll need to figure out WHERE the mother/child are living. Tools like Google, FaceBook, whitepage.com, etc. can be useful. Worst case scenario, he shells out a few bucks to a private investigator who likely knows how to access DMV, property, and other records that might locate her.

Once mom/child are located, he'll need to file a custody/visitation case in the county where the child is living. He doesn't NEED an attorney to do this, as most county courts have helpful forms and information online - but using an attorney is always BETTER, especially if mom is motivated enough to fight back with an attorney of her own.

Given that he hasn't seen the child in so long, if his petition for visitation is successful, he should expect that the court would order supervised visitation at first, to occur in the child's community, and that these visits would gradually increase to full/regular visitation in dad's state, overnights, summers, holidays, etc.