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  1. #1
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    Jun 2010
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    Default Protecting Paternity Against a Potential Biological Father

    My question involves paternity law for the State of: Florida

    My girlfriend and I have a 16 month old child who we are both living with in Orlando. Recently, we found out that someone was pretending to be the father of my son. However, when my girlfriend investigated, she found out that because of a night where she was inebriated and does not remember anything, this person may actually be my son's biological father. The worst part of this is that he waited not only the 9 months when he knew she was pregnant, but also another 16 months after my son was born to say anything, and that was only after we mentioned it. One of those do-it-yourself home paternity tests was done, which says this guy is the biological father, but I do not trust those tests, and I do not trust him to have done the test correctly.

    My question is, if he turns out to be the real biological father, is there anything that we can do about having his rights terminated because he waited for so long to bring this up? I have heard that we may be able to do this so I can adopt my son and he is legally mine.

    TL;DR: My son's potential biological father waited until he was 16 months old to say he may be the father, is there anyway that him waiting this long could help us terminate his rights?

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Florida, Potential Biological Father

    Are you legally established as Dad?

    Has he actually filed anything in court?

    How was he able to perform a paternity test?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
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    Default Re: Florida, Potential Biological Father

    I am legally his father because my name is on the birth certificate.

    Nothing has been filed in court.

    My girlfriend consented to the paternity test, but due to the nature of the test, it would not hold up in court anyway.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Florida, Potential Biological Father

    Then this man doesn't HAVE any rights to terminate.

    If you are legally the father why would you need to adopt the child?

    (clue: you don't!)

  5. #5
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    Jun 2010
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    Default Re: Florida, Potential Biological Father

    Yes, as of right now he has no rights to terminate, but if he takes this to court and it turns out he is the biological father, then he will legally be the father, and those are the rights I am asking about. I know that he currently has no rights.

  6. #6

    Default Re: Florida, Potential Biological Father

    If he initiates a paternity suit, and is found to be the father via a court supervised paternity test, he will have the right to ask for custody/visitation and will have the responsibility of child support. If he WANTS to be part of the child's life, he'll have the courts on his side UNLESS the mother can definitively prove to the court's satisfaction that he presents some clear danger to the child (ie he has convictions for crimes against children or in the presence of children) OR that he is incapable of functioning as a father to his child (ie he is incarcerated for some extended period of time). Short of those scenarios, courts want children to have TWO parents whenever possible. The fact that you are not married to the mother means you've got no hope of an adoption, at least until you've been successfully married for some period of time. But until and unless he files that suit, or until mom applies for some sort of public aid (in which case the state will come after YOU), things will remain status quo.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Florida, Potential Biological Father

    This is the usual scenario:

    He goes to court to request a DNA paternity test. The court will decide whether he's too late or not .

    If yes, then that's it. It's over. He has no grounds to do anything.

    But if the court does allow the paternity petition, and it comes back saying that he's Dad? He has every right to disestablish your paternity and become a father to his child. If that happens you have virtually no chance of adopting the child.

    The timing will have no bearing whatsoever at that point.

    Of course that also means Mom can file for child support.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    Officially across the country from where I've been all my life
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    Default Re: Protecting Paternity Against a Potential Biological Father

    And in the meantime, please don't lie to this child and tell him you are his father...

  9. #9
    Join Date
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    Default Re: Protecting Paternity Against a Potential Biological Father

    Get married.
    Quote Quoting Bellomo v Gagliano, 815 So. 2d 721 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 5th Dist. 2002), emphasis added
    In G.F.C. v. S.G., 686 So. 2d 1382 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997), this court held, in circumstances such as in this case, that where a child is born to an intact marriage and is recognized by the husband and wife as their child, the husband is deemed the legal father to the exclusion of all others and a man claiming to be the child's biological father has no common law, statutory or constitutional right to sue for paternity. The court expressly held that section 742.011 does not extend to permit the alleged biological father of a child born of an intact marriage to sue for a determination of paternity. See also Johnson v. Ruby, 771 So. 2d 1275 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000) (prevailing law in Florida is that putative father has no right to seek to establish paternity of child born into intact marriage when mother and her husband object); S.B. v. D.H., 736 So. 2d 766 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999) (putative biological father cannot maintain paternity action conceived by married woman when both woman and her husband object); I.A. v. H.H., 710 So. 2d 162 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998) (biological father has no right to bring action for paternity of child of intact family or where child born before marriage was acknowledged by husband).

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
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    5

    Default Re: Protecting Paternity Against a Potential Biological Father

    Quote Quoting CourtClerk
    View Post
    And in the meantime, please don't lie to this child and tell him you are his father...
    Well, then can I ask you a question? Who do you think is actually a father to this child, the person who may or may not have raped his mom because he got an underage girl drunk to have sex with her, then does absolutely nothing for the child, or the person who loves the child, cares for him, and is raising him? The law needs to change to see that fatherhood is not about procreation.

    Plus, he's only 16 months old. He doesn't understand what's going on.

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