Do I Have a Responsibility for a Child Who Isn’t Mine?

 Posted on November 07, 2024 in Paternity

Discovering infidelity in a marriage can be crushing, especially if you find out that you are not the biological father of your child. You may have pressing questions about paternity and what your options are when you have been willfully deceived. A father in this position has an important decision to make, one that is not to be taken lightly. A Kane County, IL family law attorney can meet with you privately to discuss a possible course of action and protect your rights before a judge.

Discovering DNA Evidence

In this day and age, genetic testing is so widely available that you may only have to drive to your nearest Walgreens or CVS to get a test. Online services like 23andMe and Ancestry.com can also produce results in a matter of weeks. However, you should know that any of these results are not admissible evidence in a court of law. As soon as you discover evidence that a child may not be yours, you should take immediate action with a family law attorney to learn your options.

Denying Paternity

Even after you have been declared the legal father of a child, you may still have legal recourse. If you can definitively prove that you are not the biological father, you can terminate parental rights. This entails getting the mother and the biological father to sign a Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity (VAP) form, or, failing that, going through the courts for a DNA test.

Generally, a non-biological father has two years to deny paternity after obtaining "actual knowledge of relevant facts" concerning paternity, as long as this is done no later than the child’s 20th birthday. In cases where paternity information was deliberately hidden from you, you may have longer than two years. A skilled paternity lawyer will hold the statute of limitations in mind, moving quickly to get your case resolved.

Can I Be Compensated for Child Support Under False Pretenses?

Under Illinois law, a mother can be charged with fraudulent concealment for intentionally obfuscating the biological father’s identity for the purposes of collecting child support. This gives the deceived father an opportunity to collect on lost expenses in raising the child, such as child support.

However, the deceived father must have a solid case to be compensated for paternity fraud. For one, the mother must have made a real effort to deceive the alleged father by withholding information or lying about an affair. Second, the deceived father must provide DNA evidence of this deception, as the court is unlikely to take the charge seriously without it.

Contact a St. Charles, IL Paternity Attorney to Get Closure

Once you have reasonable suspicion that you are not the father, you have a limited window of opportunity to take action. A Kane County, IL family law attorney at Weiler & Associates, Inc. will advocate for your rights, ensuring that the mother and biological father are made to answer for their deceit. To discuss your best course of action in a paternity case, call us at 630-331-9110.