Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: Child Paternity

This really is not all that well defined an area of

the law so it's tough to give you a definitive answer

to either of your questions.

Under Maryland law there is a presumption that any

child born during a marriage is the child of the husband.

If your ex-husband wants to prove now that he is not the

father, he will likely have to show that such a

decision on the part of a court would be in the best interest

of the child. That's a very tough argument

to sell and I doubt that he would be able to do it.

He has acted as though he is the father of the child,

even giving the child his name despite knowing about

the affair. All of this is going to make a court very

reluctant to order proceedings that will only help

the father skip his child support obligations. How

is that in the best interest of the child?

As for the issue of visitation, the court can grant

visitation to someone other than the parents if the

court believes that it is in the best interest of the

child. Howevever, the fact that these folks have

cut off contact with your child is going to make it

difficult for them to make a case that they now

need to be allowed to see the child. The courts like

to allow the parents a great deal of autonomy when it

comes to deciding who should visit their children.

If this all goes to court you should seek legal counsel.

With proper counsel you should have a very strong case.

Good luck.

Re: Child Paternity

You don't say why he has had no visitation for so long, but I am assuming that he didn't want it. If there was an order granting him visitation when you divorced, he is still entitled to exercise that right whether he has in the past or not. If he now takes this matter to court, he will almost certainly be granted visitation. I would advise a client of mine, in your situation, to be cooperative about visitation, to a point. You need to remember that it is not in the best interest of a young child to be sent off with a stranger for over-night visits. You should insist on a reasonable gradual period of getting acquainted, and be firm about a number of short visits, at first in your company. If this matter ends up in court, you want the judge to see you as a parent who is truly concerned about the best interest of your child. You do NOT want the judge to see you as a parent who is refusing the father reasonable visitation. I am referring to your former husband deliberately as the father, although he may not be the biological father, because in the eyes of the law he is the father. There is a good possibility that, even if a blood test shows that he did not father your child, he will still be considered the father by the court and will still be responsible for child support. He was married to you at the time of conception, he held himself out to be the father, if he is now wanting visitation he is wanting to exercise a father's rights. The courts have held, in similar cases, that regardless of the blood test he is legally the father. I can't guarantee that that is what a court would hold in your case, because no two cases are ever quite alike, and there may be some details of your situation which would lead to a different decision of the court. My guess about your situation is (1) that he does not really want to have visitation with the child, but is using the threat of visitation as a weapon - his new wife is not happy about the income being reduced by child support payments to you, and there is an idea that either through the blood tests or through intimidation of you about visitation, the child support will go away; (2) if you cheerfully agree to visitation, but with a reasonable gradual "get acquainted" period, his interest in visitation may disappear; and (3)if this becomes an ugly battle now, it will only get worse no matter what the outcome in the court, and hostilities will grow between you and him, you and the new wife, and you and his family, and the big loser will be your child. If the father ends up having visitation, and he visits with your child either regularly or occasionally, and he and his new wife learn to live with the child support drain on their resources, your child will be a big winner.