Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: Paternity testing

As frustrating as this may be (these types of cases really get me upset) they aren't as easy as they seem. First, did he have a court order ordering him to pay child support? If not, stop paying! If he did have an order then he should immediately petition the court for a modification of child support. The modification you would request is to stop all payments since he is not the father. However, it is not as simple as you may think. There are a number of facts that could persuade the judge to continue having him pay the support (were they married at the time of conception? did he ever acknowledge paternity in a paper given to the court?).

Now as far as the back child support....very tricky! Again it depends on if there was a court order. If there was a court order it makes it very very difficult to get that money back. If there wasn't a court order you may be able to sue her on a contract action, but to fully answer your question I would have to talk to you and ask a series of question. If you want, give my office a call at 301-652-0663. Good luck.

Re: Paternity testing

Does he want to end his relationship with the boy, now that he has discovered he is not the father? If he has had, for seven years, a close relationship with the child he may not want to end it, and he may care enough not to want to walk away from the boy, who most likely thinks of him as his father. The law is somewhat complicated and uncertain about this issue, but in general, if he was married to the mother at the time the boy was conceived and/or born, and if he held himself out as the father, in the belief that he was, he may very likely be required to continue paying child support. If he can produce the actual father, he may get off the hook. As for the support he has paid over the seven years, I have can find no record of the court ordering that money to be returned to the person who paid it when he finds out that he isn't the biological father. It may seem terribly unfair, but that money is probably gone with the wind.