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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Arkansas
    Posts
    5

    Default Acknowledgment of Paternity

    Here's the deal. My wife and I dated for nine years (1992-2000). We broke up and went our seperate ways for 2 years before reuniting. When we got back together in the summer of 2002, she had just had just given birth to a son 6 months prior. We got married in October of 2003 and I am the only father the our son knows.

    My wife was living in Madison, WI when she became pregant, but because her physician put her on bed rest she decided to come back home. Our son's biological father apparently has multiple children by other women and saw my wife's returning home as a sign of relief. The biological has never tried to make contact with us. Our son knows me as his father. At our request, we asked his daycare that he be taught that his last name is my last name as we plan on going through the adoption process.

    Here's our problem. Our son is getting ready to start pre-school and the name on his birth certificate is the name that he must go by. We have not started the adoption process as of yet. I checked with my states Vital Statistics department. The biological father's name is not on the birth certificate. They sent me an acknowledgement of paternity form for my wife and I to complete. We must return this form notarized along with a fee and this will change our son's name on the birth certificate.

    The problem with this form is that I legally become the father, but I can rescind my acknowledgement at any time. I guess it's not as solid as a legal adoption.

    My question is what rights does the biological father have after this form has been filed with our state and the name has been changed? God forbid things changed between my wife and I or something happened to her. We are looking for peace of mind that no one would come in and place claim on our son. We plan on telling our son the truth that I am not his biological father. If I walked in our home and found my wife in bed with another man I would divorce her, but I would never rescind the acknowledgment of paternity. If this form is legally binding and the biological doesn't have any rights, is there any reason to proceed with the adoption process?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default

    If you file an acknowledgement of paternity you know to be false, it is probably subject to attack by the biological father if he later comes along and wishes to assert his rights.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Arkansas
    Posts
    5

    Default

    Thank you for the reply. I guess in short, as long as the biological father doesn't petition the court we are okay? I honestly don't see this happening as the biological has fathered other children who he has no contact with. At some point does the biological lose any rights based on abandonment? Understand that it is not our intention to keep the biological out of our son's life. If he wanted to be a part of his life we would welcome him with open arms.

    We simply want to secure our son's future with us should something ever happen to one of us. Some years ago my uncle was married and divorced. Part of his divorce decree stated that he would take his son and his daughters would stay with the mom. My uncle remarried some years later, but his new wife never adopted his son. My uncle was killed in a car accident in 1995. His ex-wife never liked his new wife and petitioned the court for her son out of spite. Because his new wife never adopted his son the court granted his biological mother full custody of the boy. This was all about money and really screwed my cousin up who's now serving time in jail.

    This has us nervous and we want to know if the paternity acknowledgement is legally binding in the eyes of the court. My wife knows the who the biological father is. He has contact information for us, but hasn't tried to make contact with us. Are you saying that, God forbid, that if and when my son was 10 years old (he's 4 today), something happened to my wife that his biological could come in and claim paternity even after my acknowledgement ?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default

    Personally, I'm not going to ever go so far as to say that filing a legal document you know to contain false information is "okay", or to estimate the odds that there will be no consequence.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Arkansas
    Posts
    5

    Default

    I understand what you are saying here, but understand that all the facts have been laid out to our states Vital Statistics department. We are not signing the form under false pretenses. At some point during the adoption process we would have to sign this document anyway. Vital Statistics was very explicit in outlining the fact that my wife and son's last name (her maiden name) are the same on the birth certificate. The father never signed. We explained that I am not the father and we know who the biological father is. By him not acknowledging paternity and the child having the mother's same last name on the birth certificate, apparently he's left himself wide open to lose any paternal rights with what has happened.

    Based on the fact that there is no father listed on the birth certificate and the last names are the same, there is no presumed father. How unfortunate for him because if we were looking to do something underhanded we could say that I fathered the child while we were still dating and now that we are married I want to sign the birth certificate to acknowledge paternity and change his last name to mine. This is not the case. We want to do this legally and the right way to secure our son's future with us. If the biological ever wants to be a part of our son's life we wouldn't have a problem with it.

    Based on the facts, if for some odd reason the biological father wanted to "assert his rights", what rights would he have if "I fathered the child", married the mother, and then signed the paternity acknowledgement?

    We simply want to know if there is any reason to spend the hundreds or thousands of dollars assoicated with the adoption process necessary if all we have to do is sign the paternity acknowledgement and pay the $17.00 in fees for me to legally become the father.

  6. #6

    Default Re: Acknowledgment of Paternity

    My husband had a child from a previous relationship in 1999, signed the birth certificate and aknowledgement of paternity, and has paid $200 a week in child support since then. There were rumors that the child was not his in 2001, so he went to court in Kentucky (Jefferson County) and asked the judge to order a DNA test. The judge denied it that time and subsequent times (2003, 2005) to order the test. We finally saved up enough money to get the test ourselves ($550) through the DNA Diagnostic Center, and the test was negative! We went to court with a lawyer to get the child support lifted and the paternity aknowledgement thrown out and she (the judge) denied our motion.

    My husband and I have suffered great financial strain, as we have a child together, also, the mother is very vindictive and won't let my husband see the child regularly. The child (6 years old) says she has three daddies and that another man is her real dad. Also that she doesn't want our last name, she wants her real daddy's last name. All of this was said before we got the DNA test.

    Is there any advice that you have for our situation? Is there a way around the legal system so that my husband and I can get on with our lives??

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