PATERNITY
Missouri law provides for a specific lawsuit to determine a parent child relationship for parents of children that are born outside of marriage. This is called an action for establishment of Parentage.
The most common type of action is that to determine the Father-child relationship, called an action for Declaration of Paternity, but it is possible to bring an action for determination of the Mother-child relationship as well. Actions for Paternity are increasingly more common in today’s society, and they are a very important tool to unmarried parents, and parents born outside of a husband wife relationship. Without marriage or a judicial declaration of paternity, a father’s parental rights are basically non-existent. This legal action formally recognizes a father’s relationship to a child, but also can be combined with actions for child custody and child support.
ISSUES
The father of my child and I are not married. Can I receive child support from him?
Yes once paternity (fatherhood) is established, you may be able to obtain child support from him for your child. We handle paternity cases quickly and efficiently by filing for you in court what is called a paternity case. If you have more time on your hands the Family Support Division-Child Support Enforcement can handle your paternity case but they can only establish a child support order and paternity (fatherhood). As your private attorney we can establish custody, visitation, child support, reimbursement for cost of birth etc.
How long does it take to get an order establishing paternity and support?
If the father of the child is willing to cooperate in establishing paternity the case can be concluded very rapidly. If the father is not willing to cooperate and it must be proven that he is the father, establishing paternity can be a very long and complex process. Every case is different and the time span varies widely.
Will a blood test be done in my paternity case?
Generally in cases where the man denies that he is the father of your child, a very sophisticated series of tests will be done on a specimen of blood from the mother, the child, and the man in order to get a scientific probability of paternity.
ENFORCEMENT OF CHILD SUPPORT ORDER
Collection when a child support order is not being paid
Once you have a child support order, if the support is not being paid, the next step is to enforce the order. We file legal actions on our client’s behalf to enforce the order on your own. You may also wish to speak with Family Support Division-Child Support Enforcement although we are consistently told they are overworked and have a backload of cases.
Enforcement of a child support order
Usually, the quickest and most effective ways to enforce a child support order are through wage assignments and garnishments. These are orders to employers, banks and others who may owe money to the non-custodial parent to pay the delinquent child support instead of the non-custodial parent.
Other methods of enforcement include real estate liens, personal property liens and attachments. These methods are usually more time consuming and, in the case of attachments, may involve large cash deposits to cover sheriff's fees, storage and court costs and attorney fees.
Civil contempt of court
Criminal Non-support
Some times if a person owing support does not pay for a certain time period or certain dollar amount they can be charged with felony or misdemeanor failure to pay support. A person is likely to pay child support as opposed to being locked in prison.
Non-custodial parent does not reside in Missouri?
The fact that a non-custodial parent does not live in this state will make child support collection more difficult and usually more expensive. However, all fifty states have passed laws which increase interstate cooperation. You may wish to contact us to discuss the possibility of registering your child support order in the non-custodial parent's state.
There may be a possibility of filing a petition under the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act (URESA).
Moving out of Missouri?
In most cases, child support is not affected if you leave the state. You should be aware, however, that leaving the state may have implications where custody and visitation are concerned.
If you are thinking of leaving the state, it is recommended that you to us immediately to get a full explanation of your rights and responsibilities.
