Of all the issues that arise in the field of family law, those dealing with Paternity are often among the most difficult and emotionally charged. There is no relationship stronger or more intimate than that between parent and child, so questions of real parenthood inevitably cause emotions to flare and can strain even otherwise strong bonds.
Attorneys who deal with issues of Paternity, then, must bring an especially deft touch to their work if they are to succeed. Finding out who, exactly, is the actual biological parent of a child can be a devastating moment for all involved, so lawyers who excel in this sphere inevitably possess a particular kind of sensitivity and empathy.
In many cases, these issues are brought up years after the birth of the child in question. Typically, this happens during a divorce or separation, when both partners suddenly feel compelled to raise issues they might have previously been content leaving alone. Because these questions can quickly impact the financial outcome of a divorce, settling them at this point is often important for very concrete reasons, even more so than just putting minds at ease.
Frequently, then, a divorce will lead to the demand that a male partner is subjected to DNA testing. Modern tests can prove with a high degree of reliability whether a given man is at all likely to have fathered a particular child. The legal issues surrounding support obligations and the like often hinge to a great extent on this question. A man who is found not to be the biological father, even of a child he has otherwise treated as his own, for example, may sometimes not be required to pay child support as part of a divorce agreement.
In other cases, the situation can more or less be reversed. In many states, men can be required,& through a court order, to submit to this kind of testing, even when they have not had contact with a child’s mother for many years. A man who receives notice of such an obligation, then, even a decade after the last point of contact, can later be made to pay child support, sometimes even retroactively. As should be easy to see, this is an especially difficult and often life-altering area of the law.
