QUESTION
How can you go about establishing paternity and parental rights for a child that lives in a different state and is 15 years old?
Asked on Oct 11th, 2011 on Family Law - Tennessee
More details to this question:
A 15 year old child has been introduced into my life after having no contact and being told not to contact for 13 years. She lives in a different state than I do and she has been told all her life that she is mine. I have been told to stay away or face jail. This 15 year old has not lived with her mother in 10 years and has not lived with her supposed father in a few months. She has not been allowed to attend school in over a month and a half and she is currently living with the ex-wife of a man that molested her a while back. The woman she is living with is a religious fanatic and has made no effort to get her back in school. Neither has her parents. If she is my daughter I want her in school and in a stable household. I need to find out what to do to make this happen and try to get this child the help she needs.
1 ANSWER
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First, you will have to file in the State where she resides. If possible, you need a good attorney, skilled in family law. If not financially possible, make sure to petition for custody, visitation, child support and a finding of paternity, at which time the court will order testing. The testing currently involves a cotton swap being inserted into the person's mouth and then sent to a lab.
Answered on Oct 14th, 2011 at 6:19 PM