Legal Question in Family Law in Connecticut
paternity
my daughter is 38yrs old,her father is american,we didn't marry,i got pregnant while living with him in the US.he didn't want to know.i came back to scotland,had the baby.there was patchy contact until she was 18yrs,but no child support.my daughter wants his name on her birth certificate,he would probably deny paternity.how can i get him to acknowledge paternity.my daughter had a lawyer here in Scotland who wrote to him but he never replied to the letters.my daughter is not well enough to travel to the states to bring a case.any ideas.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: paternity
Unfortunately, the statute of limitations here in CT to file a paternity action is 18 years.
However, I don't know what the statute of limitations is in Scotland. If in fact there is no statute of limitations in Scotland, and I presume your daughter's birth certificate was issued in Scotland, then the only remedy you have is to file the paternity action in Scotland. However, you may not have any enforcement power to force the father to take a paternity test here in the states.
Except, if you were to obtain a court order in Scotland requiring him to submit to a paternity test, you might (and I say might because I am not sure) be able to have that court order enforced in the state of Connecticut through the family court by registering it here.
There possibly could be jurisdictional issues and of course you would need to make sure he is properly notified of the proceedings in Scotland. I would defer to your lawyer there on these issues.
This was a tough question!
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