Legal Question in Family Law in California
I am pregnant and guy I had a brief relationship with is claiming the child is his (he has not accepted the fact that we have no future together, and has tried desperately to break up my current relationship). My fiance and I know he is not, and plan on getting married before the birth of our child. Someone dropped the following documents off at my work (while I wasn't even there): Petition for Custody and Support, Petition to Establish Parental Relationship and Declaration Under UCCJEA. The documents were also mailed to my work, although they were not mailed certified (I have yet to sign for anything). It's obvious he didn't have much assistance in filling out these documents (and I know he cannot afford a lawyer. Do I have to respond to this? Since my fiance and I will be married prior to the birth of our child, will this guy be able to force us to take a paternity test?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Leaving a copy where a person works, combined with mailing (no certified required) is a very standard way of serving court papers. You do have to respond.
A man claiming paternity of a child has two years AFTER the birth to begin the proceeding your ex-boyfriend has filed. Whether you were married before, during or after conception or birth, to him or anyone else, makes no difference. So he's following the procedure to force a test. The right to a test is not automatic, but unless you can prove at the hearing that there is no way he could possibly be the father, you're most likely going to have to do the test. The courts and the state favor conclusive determination of fatherhood. So it's pretty hard to get them not to order a test if there is any chance he's the father. And bear in mind, the law has a much wider view of what is possible than people do in reality. For example, there are legal doctrines that presume there is a widow who is not born yet, a toddler can father a child, and a gravel quary will produce gravel forever without being exhausted. So it's probably best if you just get the test, prove him wrong, and then get a restraining order to get him out of your lives.