Legal Question in Family Law in West Virginia

Re: Im a father of a child that does not exist?

I do not practice in your state, so your state law could differ from mine. You should consult an attorney in your state.

First, let's put this in perspective. Your rights have not been violated here by a bunch of Nazis. Ten years ago, you chose to exercise your civil right to associate with whomever you chose. You chose to have sex. The apparent consequence of your choice is that you fathered a child. It is based on this possibility that West Virginia assumes you are the father and begins the process of collecting child support.

Second, children have a right to be supported by both parents. Parents have a moral and legal duty to support their children. Your state's procedure appears to be similar to my state's procedure in protecting the child's right. They first notify you by mail, inform you that the mother has named you as the father of the child, ask you to fill out a financial statement, and calculate a child support amount. Then, if you do not respond, they take your silence as your admission of paternity, they calculate support based on what information they do have, and they send a notice to your employer to withhold the monthly amount from your income.

In my state (and probably yours), paternity is a �rebuttable presumption.� That means the state presumes you're the father because the mother says so, but you can rebut the presumption with certain proof. The most certain proof is a paternity test but, of course, that could also prove that you are the father. You can also show that circumstances are such that you most likely aren't the father; for example, her �multiple partners� throws doubt on your paternity unless they've all been ruled out by paternity tests, so would a doctor's statement that chemotherapy rendered you sterile before the child was conceived, or being stationed out of the country at the time the child was conceived, etc. If you absolutely know beyond doubt that you cannot be the father, don't get involved in wrangling, accusing the mother of sleeping around, etc., just take the test and get this over with.