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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
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    1

    Default Paternity Issues with a Child Born Overseas

    I was in a relationship with a Czech girl several years ago when we were both working in Russia. When I was transferred to another project back in the States, she and I broke up. A year ago I found out through a mutual friend that she'd moved to the U.S. with her son. The friend gave me my ex-girlfriend's phone number and address so I called her up just to say hi. The first thing she said to me was "We don't want to see you."

    I tried to press for more detail about what that statement meant, but she wouldn't say anything else.

    I ended up going through her city on business a couple of months after that and I swung by her apartment building. I didn't speak to her, but I did see her and her son leaving the building. He looks just like pictures of me when I was a kid. I found out through one of our old co-workers from Russia that her son was born six months after I came back to the States.

    I tried calling my ex again and asked her for a straight answer and she told me to leave her alone, I don't have any parental rights and she's happy with the situation she has now.

    I'm not trying to ruin her life, but I think, if I have a child, I should be part of his life; even if his mother hates me for reasons I can't begin to explain.

    My question is this: DO I have any paternal rights in this case, especially since I'm an American citizen and she's not. She's not even here as a permanent resident. When her O-class visa runs out, she can probably go anywhere in the world she chooses.

    I consulted with an attorney and he told me that there's not a lot the U.S. court system could do for me as she's Czech, the boy (if he's mine, and I presume he is) was conceived in Russia and, from the information I have, was born in Italy.

    Does anyone have any advice on which country I'd need to seek legal assistance in, if I have any chance at all? What are the odds that I can mandate a paternity test and, of course pending the result, instate parental rights?

    Additionally, she's presently residing in Boston and right now I'm in Atlanta for work, but I am based out my company's hq in Philadelphia.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    28,906

    Default Re: Paternity Issues with a Child Born Overseas

    You may well be able to initiate a paternity action, and may even be able to establish your paternity, but a U.S. court couldn't directly order the birth certificate changed. I don't know whether a court in the child's state would try to order visitation if you were to establish paternity; paternity and custody laws vary by state, and this is an unusual scenario. Try consulting a few more custody experts in the state where the child is presently living (apparently Massachusetts).

    It may be that the jurisdiction where the child was born would recognize a properly validated U.S. paternity judgment, but you can't know that without knowing where the child was born and having somebody research the issue. It may be possible to initiate a paternity action in the mother's nation of origin, apparently the Czech Republic, but that's obviously problematic if neither she nor the child are in that country.

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