Retroactive Child Support

My question involves child support in the State of: NJ

When I was 21 y.o. (I'm 44 now) I had sexual relations with a young woman I worked with. She was living with her boyfriend and their young child (they are now married but have been separated for years now). Some time after we had sex (I don't remember how long it was) she found out that she was pregnant. She assured me because of the timing that I could not be the father. She may have been lying because she didn't want her boyfriend to find out. Fast forward to now: I Googled the child's name (now almost 22 y.o.), found pictures of her and she looks like me and my family members. I contacted the mother and asked if she (the child) knows about me. She doesn't.

I told the mother I would like to get to know the young lady I am confident is my biological daughter due to her appearance. She has agreed to tell the child after the holidays about the possibility and leave it to her if she would like a paternity test. The husband does not know the child is not his according to what the mother has told me.

What is the likelihood that I can be successfully sued or found to owe many, many years of retroactive child support?

Zippy, given it wasn't a matter of you purposely hiding out/disappearing to avoid the mother when she tried to find you to address the topic of paternity (and in few places would even that argument be viable, e.g. Texas).

Thanks Foster_Foster. That's very encouraging to hear. :)

Is it possible that it could be reasonably assumed that the reason that I am coming forward now instead of years ago is because I was avoiding monetary responsibility?

Possible, but irrelevant - if mom never FORMALLY opened a child support case, it's a moot point.

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Quoting Scraff

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Thanks Foster_Foster. That's very encouraging to hear. :)

Is it possible that it could be reasonably assumed that the reason that I am coming forward now instead of years ago is because I was avoiding monetary responsibility?

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Certainly.

^ Doesn't that mean I could be found to be required to provide retroactive child support? I'm asking be cause I found the following (bolding mine):

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Seeking Retroactive Child Support

When parents aren't together, a child support order or informal payment of support may be lacking. A parent may decide to one day go to court and ask for an award of child support, including retroactive child support. Retroactive child support isn't mandatory or automatic. The custodial parent must specifically ask for retroactive support.

Generally, courts don't make awards retroactive. However, there are several reasons that may justify retroactive child support, including:

A non-custodial parent concealed part of their finances or intentionally avoided support
A final hearing on support has been delayed
A parent seeking support shows need

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http://family-law.lawyers.com/child-...d-Support.html

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Quoting Scraff

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^ Doesn't that mean I could be found to be required to provide retroactive child support? I'm asking be cause I found the following (bolding mine):


http://family-law.lawyers.com/child-...d-Support.html

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Please understand that your potential child is past the age limit where child support can be filed for on a normal basis. That is the biggest reason why you are safe from retroactive support, because support cannot be filed for at all at this point.

There can be some exceptions to that, but since your paternity isn't even established those exceptions are not going to apply to you. You are completely safe.

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Quoting llworking

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There can be some exceptions to that, but since your paternity isn't even established those exceptions are not going to apply to you. You are completely safe.

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It's the exceptions that I'm concerned with and my paternity isn't established in the present, but if the mother goes ahead and tells her daughter and she wants a relationship with me if I am her biological father, then paternity will most likely be established in the future.