Child Support After Age 18

This is a real mess, so I hope I can explain. My husband of 15 years is in the military. He was told in 1989 that he had a child. He has never had contact with the child and only paid support for about the first three years, until the mother married.
It is important to note that paternity has NEVER been established and nothing has ever gone through legal channels.
In 1997 the mother's husband contacted us and wanted us to again pay support. We were having trouble having a child of our own and asked for partial custody of this child if we were going to help pay for her.
The mother panicked and told us we didn't have to pay anything and she wanted my husband to sign away his parental rights. We finally agreed and that was final in 1999.
Just this past Feb. in 2007, the mother's husband contacted us again and demanded we help pay the child's college. Turns out they moved before the papers in giving up our parental rights made it through the system. They never told us this. Even though the child will be 18 soon, she still has one more year of high school. They live in Ohio and you're considered a minor still, if you remain in high school.
My question is this:
I know we're not legally obligated to pay anything until paternity is established. If they decide they want to establish paternity, do you think a court would require us to pay when all this time we thought our parental rights had been signed away? I have proof in their emails, admitting we thought we signed away our rights.
Also, it's complicated because we live overseas right now.
Thanks for any help.

You first need to establish this his child. Next giving up parental rights does not always mean you dont still owe support! You need to find a Family Law Attorney and consult with him/her

This code provision appears to give the court discretion to order retroactive support under the facts you describe. (That's not to say that it will happen.)

Quote:

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Quoting Ohio Revised Code § 3111.13 Judgment or order - subsection F

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(F)

(1) Any court that makes or modifies an order for child support under this section shall comply with Chapters 3119., 3121., 3123., and 3125. of the Revised Code. If any person required to pay child support under an order made under this section on or after April 15, 1985, or modified on or after December 1, 1986, is found in contempt of court for failure to make support payments under the order, the court that makes the finding, in addition to any other penalty or remedy imposed, shall assess all court costs arising out of the contempt proceeding against the person and require the person to pay any reasonable attorney’s fees of any adverse party, as determined by the court, that arose in relation to the act of contempt.

(2) When a court determines whether to require a parent to pay an amount for that parent’s failure to support a child prior to the date the court issues an order requiring that parent to pay an amount for the current support of that child, it shall consider all relevant factors, including, but not limited to, any monetary contribution either parent of the child made to the support of the child prior to the court issuing the order requiring the parent to pay an amount for the current support of the child.

(3)

(a) A court shall not require a parent to pay an amount for that parent’s failure to support a child prior to the date the court issues an order requiring that parent to pay an amount for the current support of that child or to pay all or any part of the reasonable expenses of the mother’s pregnancy and confinement, if both of the following apply:

(i) At the time of the initial filing of an action to determine the existence of the parent and child relationship with respect to that parent, the child was over three years of age.

(ii) Prior to the initial filing of an action to determine the existence of the parent and child relationship with respect to that parent, the alleged father had no knowledge and had no reason to have knowledge of his alleged paternity of the child.

(b) For purposes of division (F)(4)(a)(ii) of this section, the mother of the child may establish that the alleged father had or should have had knowledge of the paternity of the child by showing, by a preponderance of the evidence, that she performed a reasonable and documented effort to contact and notify the alleged father of his paternity of the child.

(c) A party is entitled to obtain modification of an existing order for arrearages under this division regardless of whether the judgment, court order, or administrative support order from which relief is sought was issued prior to, on, or after October 27, 2000.

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What if the child has reached age of majority (out of high school)? Can they still try to get retroactive support?
Keep in mind the mother wanted his parental rights signed away AND asked us not to pay anymore support these last seven years.

The court will apply the governing statute.

I appreciate your input, but I do believe you're wrong. I can state specific law cases in which the court ruled in favor of the biological father. In Park V. Ambrose, retroactive support was barred under the doctrine when the custodial parent denies the non-custodial parent input in child's upbringing. In the R.C. 3111 there is no provision which allows for retroactive child support to be awarded to, or for, an adult child.
But thanks for your thoughts.

I'm not sure that you understand what I've been telling you or the statute, let alone the case law, but if you are able to cite cases which clarify things please go right ahead.