Legal Question in Family Law in Missouri

Re: Found Father after 16 years

You may file a lawsuit asking the Court to declare your child's biological father to be her legal father. You may also obtain an Order for child support. The father may obtain court Ordered rights of visitation or temporary custody. The child would then be entitled to inherit upon the death of the father. If you are not represented by legal counsel, and you are located in the Eastern half of the state, I may be able to provide legal services. You may call me for a free telphone consultation at 314-727-2822. Thank you.

Re: Found Father after 16 years

I'm not sure I understand what rights you are wanting to protect for your daughter? Are you referring to her inheritance rights, in the event the father dies? If so, Missouri law states that a person born out of wedlock is a child of the father for purposes of inheritance, if either:

"(1) the [biological] parents participate in a marriage ceremony before or after the birth of the child, or (2) paternity is established by an adjudication prior to the father's death, or is established thereafter by clear and convincing proof, except that the paternity established under this subdivision (2) is ineffective to qualify the father or his kindred to inherit from or through the child, unless the father has openly treated the child as his, and has not refused to support the child."

What this means is you would probably need to have a judicial determination of paternity in order to be considered a child of father capable of inheritance. You could prove paternity in other less costly ways if and only if the father openly treated your daughter as his, and has not refused to support her.

However, once your daughter turns 18 (meaning she is no longer a minor child under the law) her father has no obligation to include her in his will, assuming he has a will. Thus, a paternity determination would only be helpful if the father dies without a will or some of his property passes outside the will by intestate succession.

If there are other reasons for determining paternity -- ie Daughter wants verification that he is her dad -- then you could go ahead and proceed with a paternity action.

You might be able to do this without an attorney if you contacted the MO Division of Child Support Enforcement and told them your situation. However, it could take quite some time, particularly if he is not located in Missouri.

If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to give me a call at (816) 444-1172.

Best of luck with the situation no matter what you decide.