What to Do if You Find Out Your Child Is Not Yours
Hello, my name is Attorney Jason Lile and I am the Tulsa fathers’ lawyer for Northeastern Oklahoma. So sometimes I run into a scenario that might seem kind of wild to you, but it’s surprising how often it comes up. If a mother has used a sperm donor or has had some kind of extracurricular affair with another man and you find out that a child that you thought was yours is not yours, what can you do?
Well, that depends. If you were lied to and that’s fraudulent on her part to do that, then in Oklahoma, if you have been acknowledged as that child’s father or those children’s father for two years or more, what does that mean?
Proving Fraud in Court
That means you filled out the form that the hospital typically gives you in order to be on the child’s birth certificate. If you did that and two years have passed, then you have to go to court and file a paternity action to prove fraud so that you can undo that parent-child relationship. That opens up a whole other can of worms. Do you want to undo that parent-child relationship?
It is within the court’s discretion to say, I’m not going to undo that parent-child relationship unless there is somebody else who you’re claiming to be the father. So if you don’t have the baby’s father, the actual baby’s biological father, if you don’t know who that person is, that could be problematic. It doesn’t mean the judge won’t grant your request, but sometimes there’s a barrier to that.
Adoption as a Solution
But that could be a problem if there was a sperm bank used because you wouldn’t know who the father is. So in that case, you would need an attorney who would know how to make an argument before the court that you were defrauded and that you should not have parental rights and responsibilities to the children who aren’t biologically yours. Another option is potentially to look into adopting that child if that’s a possibility. That seems kind of a strange solution, but it has happened.
A Low-cost Strategy Session
So if you have any questions about this situation or any other situation that can be confusing when it comes to father’s rights or family law issues, please feel free to reach out to us. I’m Oklahoma paternity attorney Jason Lile, and I can be found at tulsafathersrights.lawyer. Call us today at (918) 986-7724 to schedule a initial consultation .
