Legal Question in Family Law in Ohio

In Ohio, there is a presumption of paternity for any child born while two people are married. However, this presumption can be overcome by forensic evidence to the contrary such as a blood test or dna test. Blood tests are simpler and quicker than dna in some cases, in that if the child's blood type does not match that of either parent, then the husband is ruled out as the father. But if the blood type does match either parent, then dna will be needed to see if the husband is the father.

You will only be responsible for amounts that the court has ordered you to pay. If you have been ordered to pay $400.00, then you will not be responsible for paying more than that and I can't see what legal remedy she would have to get you to pay $600.00 per month.

It sounds like temporary orders have been filed in the case by the Court and that she is unhappy with them. It is possible that she could get the court to reconsider the $400.00 amount and award a higher amount. Usually those awards are retroactive to the date of filing the divorce. This means that if the court increases the amount you owe, then you will have an "instant arrearage" meaning that you will be behind on your child support obligations, but that the court will not hold that against you because that arrearage was just created.

The way that a court deals with an instant arrearage is that it makes you pay the new amount plus a small percentage each month of the arrearage amount until the arrearage is paid.

If it turns out that you are not the father of the child, it is possible that the Court will order your wife to return the money. Since she will likely have spent it, when the debts and property of the marriage are divided up, the court will often make it equal. For instance, let's say that there is 10k in a retirement account somewhere and you are both entitled to 5k of it. If the court finds that you have overpaid child support in the amount of 4k because the child is not yours, then the court will award you 9k of the retirement account and her only 1k. Similarly, if there is 14k of marital debt and you each owe 7k of it, then the Court could assign 11k to her and 4k to you and even it out that way.

Once the dna test comes back, you can petition the court to eliminate the child support payment and recover the overpayment. But I doubt that will happen automatically. You will need to take action on this once the results are in.

You should talk to your base legal advisor as they often have attorneys who will help you in this type of situation while you are deployed.