Legal Question in Family Law in Pennsylvania
Who would be considered the legal father?
I am legally married but have been separated for 2 years(not legally separated though). I have moved on and now have a boyfriend. I am pregnant by my boyfriend. My husband and I have remained great friends. When I became pregnant, my boyfriend was not happy and feared if we broke up that he would be stuck with child support. I told him since I decided that I want this baby, I will never ask him for child support. I talked to my husband about it who told me if we were to get back together, he would love and raise the baby as his own. I have decided to go back to my husband. My question is..is my husband considered the legal father and I need to do nothing legally or does the biological father have the right to ask for a paternity test and claim his parental rights? I am not sure that he would even try to do that, but I just want to know should I protect myself and have biological father sign his parental rights over to my husband legally or is my husband legally considered the father unless he disputes it, which he won't because he wants to accept this child as his own. I don't want any future problems, so do i need to legally make my husband the father through the courts? What rights, if any, does biological father have?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Who would be considered the legal father?
You asked about a... really mixed up situation.
A child born to an in tact marriage is presumed to be a product of that union.
In PA, an intact marriage is one where there has been no formal process begun to dissolve that union.
In this case, the boyfriend would not owe child support. If you divorced after the child was born the ex-husband would owe child support.
If the father wanted to challenge support then he would need to get the court to inquire as to paternity. That could not be done unless the natural father could be brought under jurisdiction of the court and determined to be the father. After which time he would be subject to support the child.
An agreement between the adults cannot remove the obligation for child support. Support is an obligation of the parent to the child and agreements regarding child support have been invalidated where they removed that obligation. In certain cases child support has been limited to a reasonable sum. (e.g. such as where the parent earns huge amounts, the child is entitled to reasonable support and not necessarily to the degree that the standard formulas would suggest.)
Nor can a putative father (the husband where the child is born in an in tact marriage) disavow the child. This would only be allowed where there was another person who took up the mantle, legally.
Find a relationship counselor and a family attorney local to you to help sort out this situation. A little foresight now will prevent a lot of problems later.
Regards,
Roger
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