Legal Question in Family Law in Florida
I had previously asked this question and received two completely opposite answers. Please only answer this question if you're 100% sure it's the correct answer. You may be the lawyer I choose to work with. This question has to do with Florida child-support laws. If anybody can help with this, you would be helping a person in great need, and I'd be eternally grateful. So here's the case: My mother passed away when I was 13-years old and I have been in the guardianship of my grandmother. I have never met my father, but managed to track him down in Miami, Florida. I also live in Florida. His name is not on my birth certificate, and he denies being my biological father. Although I have just turned 19, I am in College and I do not have a job. Therefore, is it possible for my grandmother and myself to get a court-ordered DNA test and (assuming he is my father) file a lawsuit for missed child-support payments from my birth up to the age of 18? I heard a rumor saying that I have until four years after I turn 18. Is that true?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Not sure what answers you got. You do not have standing to file for child support. This would have been up to your mother. Secondly, since his name is not on the birth certificate you can not arbitrarily have his name placed on your birth certificate. I believe I suggested to you to contact your father and ask if he would like a relationship with you and could he help you financially. Since you have never met your father, your grandmother and mother kept you from forming one and he may not wish to start a relationship now. If you wish to pursue this further, I suggest you contact the Florida Bar Referral Service and ask that they provide you with a family law attorney that could counsel you in the law on this situation.
With due respect to the other attorney who answered this question, she is totally wrong.
An action related to the determination of paternity must be commenced within four years from the date the child reaches the age of majority [Fla. Stat. � 95.11(3)(b)]. In Florida, the age of majority is eighteen [Fla. Stat. �� 1.01(14), 743.07(1)].
A child has standing to file an action for the determination of paternity when the issue has not been otherwise established [Fla. Stat. � 742.011]. Thus, a child has the right to initiate an action when paternity has not been established by a prior paternity action, by the father�s marriage to the mother [Fla. Stat. �� 732.108(2)(a), 742.091; see also � 90.02(1)], or by the father�s acknowledgment of paternity [see Fla. Stat. �� 39.054(2), 440.02(5)].
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