Grounds for a Paternity suit
Not ready to become a father? Neither will be the act of providing financial support to a child.
Paternity suit is one of the most common civil cases filed by an unwed mother, wife, husband, or father which aims to determine the identity of the biological father of a child who is born from unwed parents. And once the father's identity is known, the court obligates the father to provide financial support to the child.
It may sound simple but for many men, majority of whom are teenagers who have not finished high school, this can be as heartbreaking as the young mother itself. Paternity suit orders that fathers give support until the child is 18 years or longer (if the child is physically or psychologically incapacitated). This responsibility is enough to send young fathers into confusion and, possibly, depression knowing that they might have to quit school and find work instead.
Paternity suit is filed everyday across the United States and around the world. Its prevalence is accounted by the fact that many outside-of-marriage pregnancies are increasingly happening in many parts of the globe. Paternity suit affects people from different backgrounds, lifestyle, economic status, and so on.
Fortunately, paternity suit is no longer as complicated as it was decades ago. Advances in medical technology have helped millions of men in clearing up their names in court or be compelled to support depending on the outcome of case. Such exams as DNA testing prove a great deal of the father's identity among all others. As this say, there's no escaping when you lose a paternity suit because there will be two parties who will going after you: the child's biological mother and the law.
The current spate of paternity suit among celebrities has to some degree served as an encouragement for other unwed mothers to file lawsuits against the biological fathers of their child. This is not to say that paternity suit is easily won over. Some lawsuits take years to reach a decision so that even then fathers still have a good chance of running off from the responsibility while the paternity suit is in progress.
Nonetheless, as soon as the court has reached a decision most of the resolutions will involve repayment of the costs starting when the child was born and until the time of the lawsuit.
What mothers can get out of it usually is financial support for the child from the biological father but the court cannot compel the father to actively participate in raising the illegitimate child.
After exhausting all means to get the biological father to support your child, a paternity suit might just be your best solution.
