Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
In 2002 a woman announced to me that she was pregnant and that I was the father of her child. I had serious doubts that her claim was true but nonetheless, filed a suit to establish paternity and gain custody of the child.
In retrospect, this was a mistake on my part - subsequent paternity testing showed that I was not the child's father. I should have waited until after the baby was born and not filed anything.
The court ruled that I was not the father and on my request ordered the child's last name be changed to his mother's last name... and that was that.
My question is: Is there a way to get the records of the case sealed? Since I'm not the father, there seems to me there is little public benefit in having access to the case records.
1 Answer from Attorneys
No, you can't get the records sealed after the fact. If you had filed a timely request to seal the records, it probably would have been denied.