Legal Question in Family Law in New York

Re: statue of limitations on claiming parental rights

I think it would be "fairest" to caution you that there is probably no 'cut-&-dried' answer to your core question; that instead of there being a "hard & fast" rule the equivalent of a statute of limitations, there will always be an 'entry' for an argument to be raised on the "totality of the circumstances".

In certain circumstances, four years of no contact / no acknowledgement / etc. might be getting "close" to enough time to support an argument for "by-passing" a biological father's consent / participation in an adoption/termination ...

... BUT -

In your scenario, part of that "totality of the circumstances" is your 'deception' - - that is, your striving to persuade the man that he is not the father. It is within the realm of possibility that a Suddenly Alert father could argue that the only reason he hadn't taken steps was because of the course of action that YOU pursued w/re: deceiving him

,&, in the Grand Scheme of Things that is the Family Court, that might be enough to get his foot in the door.

Regards, etc.,

J.M. Hayes

>>--> The foregoing amounts to musings and observations based on some years familiarity with the 'day-to-day' operation of the law with regard to the issues involved In The Most General sense; my remarks should not be thought of as "legal advice and counsel" in the formal sense of that phrase, since there is, in fact, no 'attorney / client' relationship existing between us. <-<<

Re: statue of limitations on claiming parental rights

I would doubt he would try to assert paternity because he would be liable for child support.