Texas Paternity Law - I'm Not The Father

Question:  What if I have an order naming me as the father, but I have now tested myself and the child, and I am NOT the biological father?

Answer:  You may want to hire an attorney to represent the child, who has a constitutional right to know who his father is.

In re J.W., 97 S. W. 3d 818 (Tex. App.-Dallas 2003, pet. denied) is a recent case dealing with a similar situation. Briefly, J.W. was a case similar to yours, although it was a divorce, no paternity testing was conducted, and no attorney ad litem represented the child in the lawsuit yielding the underlying child support order. So the court ruled that the child in that case was not bound by the paternity determination from the earlier case.

See also Texas Family Code section 160.602(1), granting a child the right to bring an action on his own behalf to establish his own legally protected relationship with his biological father. (Effective as of June 14, 2001.)

Results may differ based on the facts of a particular case.