Legal Question in Family Law in Oregon

Re: Need info on child visitation rights

YOUR POST:

I need to know what legal action I can take after I take a paternity test to conclude that the girl is mine and if I have any right to visitation.

ANSWER:

Given the circumstances you have described, under Oregon law as it presently exists, you cannot compel the mother to involuntarily participate in paternity tests except in connection with a legal proceeding that has been initiated for the purposes of establishing paternity.

If the mother (or a child support enforcement agency) has not initiated such a proceeding, Oregon law allows you, as "a person claiming to be the father of a child born out of wedlock," to do so. But when you file such a proceeding, Oregon law requires that you affirmatively allege that your are, in fact, the father of the child. Thus, for a man who is uncertain whether he is or is not the father and wants to invoke the power of the court to compel the mother and child to participate in parentage blood testing, filing a lawsuit to establish paternity maybe self-defeating. All the mother has to do is admit the truthfulness of the male petitioner�s statement that he is the father of the child. The question of paternity will no longer be in dispute and there will be no need for blood tests. So, if you are not certain as to whether you are or are not the child's father, you would be well-advised not to file such a lawsuit.

For a man who is uncertain as to his paternity of the child and wants to use the judicial system to compel genetic testing to resolve the question, a "suit for declaratory judgment" (see ORS ch 28) appears to provide a suitable alternative remedy. In this type of lawsuit, the man who thinks he MIGHT be the father alleges his uncertainty as to his paternity of the child and requests a court judgment declaring in the alternative that he either is or is not the father of the child, as evidenced through genetic testing. Upon commencement of the suit, a motion for an order compelling blood tests should also be filed, with a copy of the motion being served on the mother along with the summons and petition. In most cases the child will be in the mother�s custody or under her legal control, thus allowing the court to order the mother to produce the child for the court-ordered blood tests. ORCP 44 A.