DADDY? OH…!!
By: Michael H. Gora
Q: I am a thirty-five-year-old bachelor, never been married. I was at home, recently, watching a pre-season football game, when the phone rang. It was a ten-year-old girl, who lived in another city in Florida. She said that she found out that I was her father, by looking through some old papers of her mother. He mother had told her that we had never married, and that I had died in a car accident before she was born. She found me by doing a search on her Mac, for Florida residents with my name, which is not that common.
I asked her mother’s name, realized that her story might be true, and asked to speak to her mother. She refused, but her mother still lived in the town where we had both grown up in Pennsylvania, so it was not hard to find her address and phone number. How can I find out if she really is my daughter? What are my legal rights and responsibilities toward my daughter? How can I invoke those rights, if I want to?
A: It seems doubtful that the ten-year-old detective you describe will not report her findings to her mom. You should consider calling her mom and re-establishing some communications. If she denies that you are the father, and you want to know the truth, you can file a paternity suit against the mother to determine the truth through a DNA test.
If the test proves that you are the father obligations for past and future child support will have to be addressed. Your liability for past support might depend on a number of facts, such as whether the mother had known your whereabouts for the entire period, and refused to let you know about your daughter’s birth, or had lost track of you and had no means to locate you.
Under certain circumstances, the Florida statutes limit you liability to a few years prior to your gaining knowledge of your position. Florida law prohibits either parent waiving the right to receive child support from the other.
If the state of Florida ha supplied some support to the mother because of your absence, it might have a claim for support against you. There are many legal rights arising in you behalf and on behalf of the child.
If the young girl is your daughter, she will be able to inherit from you, if you have no will, and die owning property. Children, however can be disinherited.
You will have a right to visitation, and other parental rights, if the court sees fit or you and mom can agree. Of course, care must be taken for the child’s bests inters in establishing some normal contact. It is likely that advice from a therapist would be a good idea. It appears you have your work cut out for you.
Michael H. Gora has been certified by the Board of Education and Specialization of The Florida Bar as a specialist in family and matrimonial law and is a partner with Shapiro Blasi Wasserman & Gora P.A. in Boca Raton. Mr. Gora can be reached at mhgora@sbwlawfirm.com.
