Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

Twenty years ago I was romantically involved with a man in a six year relationship. His father sent him away and I was pregnant at t he time. He knew of the pregnancy. I married someone else seven months later. This past May this man came to see my daughter for the first time. He showed her off to his relatives here as his daughter, took her shopping, promised to buy her a car and be present in her life. After eight days he left and went back home and has not called her, nor will he answer her calls. However he continues to pay her cell phone bill. What I want to know is where does she stand legally to sue him for abandonment, considering he knew of her all these years but chose not to contact us until she was seventeen. She would also like to sue for alienation of affection and lack of financial support.


Asked on 8/12/10, 10:51 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Mark Dunn Mark D. Dunn

Section 160.606 of the Texas Family Code says that if your child has no presumed father and if paternity has never been established by court order, there is no statute of limitations for the paternity suit. It can be filed when she is 48 years old.

I don't understand what you mean about suing him for "abandonment." There's a presumption that when a court awards retroactive child support (in connection with establishing paternity), it goes back only four years (section 154.131 of the Family Code).

I don't understand how anyone's affections were alienated.

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Answered on 8/19/10, 3:35 pm


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