Legal Question in Family Law in Ohio
my ex and i had a child back in 2008 and we split up in November 2010. i have paid a mutual support for the child since then but it isn't court ordered. My name is on his birth cert but there was always a doubt that he is my biological son. Now that my son is 3 she has finally admitted that she didn't know who the father was from the beginning but continued to lead me on to think he is mine because my financial and mental lifestyle was at a better position than the "possible" actual father at the time. She just recently filed for me to be ordered to appear at a health lab later this month for paternity testing. This is heartbreaking to me because my son and i have such a great relationship and now may have to deal with this inconvenience for the rest of our lives. My question is, Is there any type of lawsuit i can file against her for 3yrs of mental abuse since she continued lying for so long?
1 Answer from Attorneys
I am unclear from your question what your goals are in this. If you want to remain in your present status as the child's father, you could avoid paternity testing by signing and filing a stipulation that you do not contest paternity of the child and that it is your child. Paternity testing is usually ordered to establish paternity with regard to an father who is not willing to admit paternity.
You could argue in court that she is estopped from arguing that you are not the father of the child because she told you (and more importantantly, the child) that you were the father, and that you came to rely upon these statements in paying child support and that more importantly your son came to rely upon these statements in establishing a relationship to you.
You can argue that there is more to being a father than simply donating genetic material to a woman, and that financial and emotional support that you have given along with your signing the birth certificate and the expectation of the child that he has an identifiable father is sufficient for the court to declare that you are the father since that is in the best interest of the child.
If your goal is not to be the child's father and to sue her to get back at her, then you can take the paternity test and sue her for fraud.
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