Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia

Re: The rights of a man with regards to ''assumed paternity''

I suspect that the �assumed paternity'' doctrine that you mention, is in fact the "presumption of

legitimacy� that attaches to a child born to a married women or where the mother and father later

marry and treat the child as their own. Virginia law has this presumption. Though a strong

presumption, it is rebuttable in Virginia. With DNA testing it is easier now to successfully rebut

the presumption than it was a number of years ago. However it is not a �slam dunk� and your

friend needs to consult an attorney to see whether or not he has a chance of over come the

presumption. I would be happy to discuss that with your friend, either in person or on the phone. There would be no obligation for that initial conversation. If he is indeed paying a substantial amount in child support he may under the circumstances want to investigate his legal options to possibly avoid an obligation that may not really be his.

Re: The rights of a man with regards to ''assumed paternity''

Any father paying child support under the terms of a Virginia court order who has legitimate doubts about the paternity of the child for whom he's paying the support can petition the court

having jurisdiction over the matter to order a paternity test.

If the matter already is under the jurisdiction of the Juvenile & Domestic Relations District Court, your friend can go on his own to the clerk's office to ask for a hearing on the matter.

However, if the child support issue is still up in the circuit court which handled the final divorce, your friend would need to have either the

attorney who represented him in the divorce or

another attorney file a motion to have the matter heard.