Will a DNA Test Disproving Paternity Void an Affidavit of Parentage
My question involves paternity law for the State of: Kentucky
My question regards voluntary acknowledgement of paternity. The VOP, as I'm sure you know, names a man the legal father of a child without the need for a paternity test. In a situation where the VOP was signed by a man who was not the father and knew he was not the father. Yes, I know this is fraud and very stupid to do but what is done is done. The legal father has received visitation rights, even though he hadnt seen the child in over a year and was only fighting for these rights to spite the mother, not in the interest of the child. The biological mother has now gotten a Legal paternity test for the actual father who does intend to be in the childs life and is now helping with the child. The paternity test has a chain of custody and is done by the most reliable clinic in the us so yes it will hold up in court and there is not disputing that the biological father and the man who signed the AOP are not the same person. The man who signed the AOP is fighting to keep his rights even though as of now there is a protection order because he sent the two year old home from a visitation with bruises and whelps.(a child protective services and police report were filed and are pending) There is court in a week and the mother will present the paternity test and chain of custody with her lawyer to attempt to have his visitation rights taken away.
My question is simply will this be enough to terminate the rights of the man who signed the AOP? The biological father is showing that he wants to be involved by paying child support and having helped pay for the test and taking the test willingly but he is training in Virginia as a soldier so going to court is not possible. My attorney does not believe that he will need to be there due to the paternity test being court admissible but I am wanting the opinions of others.
I realize signing the VAOP was unbelievably idiotic and against the law with both signers knowing that the man signing as the father was not the father. That is a civil court issue if it comes to it and I (the mother) am more than willing to accept the consequences for signing it when it was untrue but I am from another state and was told that in the state of ky that you could not leave the father blank like I had planned to do. A nurse said you were not allowed to leave the hospital that way and with a premature child in the nicu on a breathing machine and my having just had an emergency c section I was A. too drugged up and B. too stupid to realize that I should have questions what the nurse told me. I am asking for your opinion on the family court matter, nothing else, so I would appreciate if you could hold back telling me that I am an idiot or should be in jail ect. I openly admitted to the judge what I had done even though the man who signed lied and said he believes he is the father and again I am willing to pay the consequences when/if I come to face them. I am not denying any wrong doing but my innocent two year old should not have to pay for my mistake by having visitation with a man who not only is not his father but has abused him all because he was angry over a relationship that ended when my son was only 3 months old.
Re: Does a Legal Paternity Test Overrule a Vaop
We are not going to second guess the advice of your attorney, who not only has ALL of the facts of your case, but who is familiar with your local courts, judges, and their typical rulings and approaches to similar cases. Listen to your attorney.
Re: Does a Legal Paternity Test Overrule a Vaop
I am going to take a guess here though, and say that the judge may very well order a new paternity test be done for both putative fathers. I read what you said about where you had the test done, etc., but the judge may not care.
Re: Does a Legal Paternity Test Overrule a Vaop
The judge will not. She is the one who told my attorney and myself to have it done privatly due to it not being necessary when a legal father was established. We requested a dna test from the begining and she said no. Also that she would accept one with a chain of custody that was done by an accreditted lab. Which it was.
Re: Does a Legal Paternity Test Overrule a Vaop
Quote:
Quoting tiffany1990
The man who signed the AOP is fighting to keep his rights even though as of now there is a protection order because he sent the two year old home from a visitation with bruises and whelps.(a child protective services and police report were filed and are pending) There is court in a week and the mother will present the paternity test and chain of custody with her lawyer to attempt to have his visitation rights taken away.
You told us that the father had not seen the child in over a year. Now he has visitation that he is exercising and that you want to take away. Would I be correct to infer here that dad brought this court action to obtain visitation alleging that you were not letting him see the child, and that your response was to try to disestablish paternity?
"Whelp" refers to the process by which carnivourous animals give birth to their offspring. Dogs whelp puppies. I believe the term you are looking for is "welt"?
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Quoting tiffany1990
My question is simply will this be enough to terminate the rights of the man who signed the AOP?
The DNA test alone? No, it would not.
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Quoting tiffany1990
...but I am from another state and was told that in the state of ky that you could not leave the father blank like I had planned to do.
Even accepting that, the question remains: Why did you choose to lie instead of naming the actual father?
Also, no state makes you sign an acknowledgment of parentage, or can drag a putative father into the hospital to sign one, and you cannot unilaterally make a man to whom you were not married the legal father of the child.
There is recent authority for a court to rely heavily upon DNA evidence when adjudicating paternity - the facts and procedural history of the case are complex and your lawyer can advise you on how well it supports your goals. It's not clear what type of action you are adjudicating here, or whether the man you assert to be the father has formally initiated paternity proceedings.
Re: Does a Legal Paternity Test Overrule a Vaop
Quote:
Quoting
Mr. Knowitall
You told us that the father had not seen the child in over a year. Now he has visitation that he is exercising and that you want to take away. Would I be correct to infer here that dad brought this court action to obtain visitation alleging that you were not letting him see the child, and that your response was to try to disestablish paternity?
"Whelp" refers to the process by which carnivourous animals give birth to their offspring. Dogs whelp puppies. I believe the term you are looking for is "welt"?
The DNA test alone? No, it would not.
Even accepting that, the question remains: Why did you choose to lie instead of naming the actual father?
Also, no state makes you sign an acknowledgment of parentage, or can drag a putative father into the hospital to sign one, and you cannot unilaterally make a man to whom you were not married the legal father of the child.
There is recent authority for a court to rely heavily upon DNA evidence when adjudicating paternity - the facts and procedural history of the case are complex and your lawyer can advise you on how well it supports your goals. It's not clear what type of action you are adjudicating here, or whether the man you assert to be the father has formally initiated paternity proceedings.
Yes, your inference is correct. I did not let him see the child, nor did he attempt to see the child until he found out that I had moved on with my life more than a year later and he got mad so, out of spite, not love for the child he petitioned for rights. Not that his reasoning is really a relevant factor in any of this because I can prove nothing.
Yes welt, for some reason when I posted this my phone autocorrected that. You obviously knew what was meant though.
I do now know that no state can force you to sign that paperwork, but I obviously did not know at the time which is how my grave mistake was made. As for why the biological father did not sign, as I stated before he was hundreds of miles away in another state and I was told I could not leave the hospital without someone listed by the nurse. In my stupidity since this paper was not notarized or even witnessed while signing I did not consider just how important it would be. I have come to learn of those mistakes now.
The biological father has not initiated paternity proceedings because as I said before he is in training in the military. He has been in the childs life paying child support and helping with anything that I needed. Neither of us knew that the man who signed the AOP would be able to get any rights so we did not think to have the affidavit overturned. He will be active in the childs life as soon as his training is finished. What I am trying to accomplish is removing the rights of the man who signed the AOP and having his name replaced with the biological fathers so that he can establish his rights. We never planned to go to court for any of the visitation or child support with him due to the fact that we worked all of it out on our own. So until the AOP signer decided to stir all this up out of nowhere out of spite we assumed that it would not be a problem. We were wrong.
The father is not available to start proceeding to fight for his rights so as of now I am just trying to do this with his dna test proving he is the father to stop the AOP signer from seeing a child that is not biologically his again especially with the abuse he is putting on an innocent child. My child should not have to pay for my mistakes. Any advice on the next steps to take are welcome.
Thank you for responding so quickly, it amazes me that so many people are willing to try and help strangers on this forum. I truly appreciate it.
Re: Does a Legal Paternity Test Overrule a Vaop
Quote:
Quoting
tiffany1990
Yes, your inference is correct. I did not let him see the child, nor did he attempt to see the child until he found out that I had moved on with my life more than a year later and he got mad so, out of spite, not love for the child he petitioned for rights. Not that his reasoning is really a relevant factor in any of this because I can prove nothing.
Yes welt, for some reason when I posted this my phone autocorrected that. You obviously knew what was meant though.
I do now know that no state can force you to sign that paperwork, but I obviously did not know at the time which is how my grave mistake was made. As for why the biological father did not sign, as I stated before he was hundreds of miles away in another state and I was told I could not leave the hospital without someone listed by the nurse. In my stupidity since this paper was not notarized or even witnessed while signing I did not consider just how important it would be. I have come to learn of those mistakes now.
The biological father has not initiated paternity proceedings because as I said before he is in training in the military. He has been in the childs life paying child support and helping with anything that I needed. Neither of us knew that the man who signed the AOP would be able to get any rights so we did not think to have the affidavit overturned. He will be active in the childs life as soon as his training is finished. What I am trying to accomplish is removing the rights of the man who signed the AOP and having his name replaced with the biological fathers so that he can establish his rights. We never planned to go to court for any of the visitation or child support with him due to the fact that we worked all of it out on our own. So until the AOP signer decided to stir all this up out of nowhere out of spite we assumed that it would not be a problem. We were wrong.
The father is not available to start proceeding to fight for his rights so as of now I am just trying to do this with his dna test proving he is the father to stop the AOP signer from seeing a child that is not biologically his again especially with the abuse he is putting on an innocent child. My child should not have to pay for my mistakes. Any advice on the next steps to take are welcome.
Thank you for responding so quickly, it amazes me that so many people are willing to try and help strangers on this forum. I truly appreciate it.
The man who you believe to be the child's father may be giving you money, but he is certainly not paying child support as he legally does not have a child.
Unless the man who claims to be the child's biological father petitions the court himself to legally establish parentage, I don't see how this can happen.
Re: Does a Legal Paternity Test Overrule a Vaop
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Quoting
Antigone
The man who you believe to be the child's father may be giving you money, but he is certainly not paying child support as he legally does not have a child.
Unless the man who claims to be the child's biological father petitions the court himself to legally establish parentage, I don't see how this can happen.
Does the paternity test with the chain of custody not establish parentage? Or at least establish that the man who signed the AOP is not the biological father? And I do not believe him to be the father, he is the father, the DNA test proves that. Even if the AOP says otherwise.
Re: Does a Legal Paternity Test Overrule a Vaop
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Quoting
tiffany1990
Does the paternity test with the chain of custody not establish parentage? Or at least establish that the man who signed the AOP is not the biological father? And I do not believe him to be the father, he is the father, the DNA test proves that. Even if the AOP says otherwise.
Until the court says he is the father, he is not the father. I don't see how the court will act on your request without the man claiming to be the biological father being the in court room. Unless he is represented I don't see how a judge will bind this man to the child who already has a legal father.
Re: Does a Legal Paternity Test Overrule a Vaop
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Quoting
tiffany1990
Does the paternity test with the chain of custody not establish parentage?
It's not a question of that, the issue is this: there is already a legally established father. The court is not going to bastardize the child by taking AWAY the legal father, until and unless some OTHER father now comes forth to seek to establish himself as such. That means that the FATHER will need to be the one to initiate any court action. Sadly, he's busy with other matters in his life right now, and it's just going to have to wait until HE has time and ability to pursue the matter.
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Or at least establish that the man who signed the AOP is not the biological father?
Even if he's not, he's still the LEGAL father, and THAT is what the court is concerned with. The FATHER himself will need to challenge the already standing parent/child relationship.