Hastings, MI asked in Child Support for Michigan

Q: My fiancé is paying support for a child that isn’t his but he signed the birth certificate. How can he stop payments?

The mother knows the child isn’t his and has moved to another state when the child was a baby. It’s been 10yrs. Will identifying paternity be enough to stop/close child support case and payments. Will she owe him for all the money that she has taken?

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1 Lawyer Answer
Brent T. Geers
Brent T. Geers
Answered
  • Grand Rapids, MI
  • Licensed in Michigan

A: Once your fiance signed the birth certificate (and I presume acknowledgment of paternity), that's saying "I have no reason to dispute paternity". There is a legal mechanism to revoke paternity, but after 10 years, that would be some tough sledding. Further, once his name is on a birth certificate, it ceases to be the mother's problem to establish paternity or entitlement to child support. It's on your fiance to do something. Unless there is some evidence of significant fraud on the mother's part, she would not owe him money.

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