Legal Question in Family Law in New York

Can I sue Social services and ex-girlfriend?

Social Services and my ex-girlfriend have informed me 13 years later that I have a child (test confirmed child is mine). She moved out a couple of days after telling me she was pregnant.I have lived 90 miles from her and social services in the same state for these 13 years and now DSS is looking for $12,000 because she has been on public assistance all this time. With all the resources DSS has to use to find me why 13 years later. So I was wondering if ther was any way I could sue social services and my ex for not telling me that I had a child and letting this child grow up without a farther.


Asked on 4/10/02, 11:40 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
John Hayes The Law Office of John M. Hayes

Re: Can I sue Social services and ex-girlfriend?

I perceive the core issue to be 'resolved' by your own brief statement of the early history:

At the time the girlfriend left, you knew she was pregnant. Doesn't logic dictate that in response to any claim you might make that DSS had an obligation to track you down, it can [and will] be argued that you had an even greater obligation to "track" the child that you'd fathered.

In the grand scheme of things, a court is much more apt to impose that obligation on you.

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. <-<<

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Answered on 4/18/02, 1:13 pm


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