State ex rel. Secy’ v. Cares (Kansas 2021)
A voluntary acknowledgement has the effect of an order of paternity and the statutes designate specific timeframes for recission. The State brought an action to enforce a child support order against the father. The father argued the voluntary acknowledgement of paternity, which was signed four years prior, was void. The district court found no basis to set aside the paternity acknowledgement. The father appealed.
Read MoreBaxter v. Rowan (Tennessee 2020)
A valid paternity acknowledgement is the equivalent of a paternity order and grants a parent standing to sue for visitation. The father signed a paternity acknowledgement and several years later filed for visitation. The trial court granted the visitation. The mother appealed the final order for several reasons. Relevant to child support, she argued the father didn’t have standing to sue for visitation because the paternity acknowledgement was not a final parentage order.
Read MoreState of Tennessee ex rel. Kimberly C. v. Gordon S. (Tennessee 2020)
A voluntary acknowledgement of paternity (VAP) is a legal finding of paternity but can be set aside for material mistake of fact. The burden of proof is on the parent challenging the VAP. The father signed a VAP knowing that he was not the child’s biological parent. The parents broke up, and the State filed to establish support. The father filed to dismiss the petition, arguing that there was a material mistake of fact and he requested genetic testing. The juvenile court denied the request for genetic testing, declined to set aside the VAP, and ordered support. The father appealed.
Read MoreBenjamin M. v. Jeri S. (Nebraska 2020)
An unrescinded and unchallenged acknowledgement of paternity is a legal finding of parentage. The parents had two children, and the father has signed an acknowledgement of paternity immediately following the birth of both children. Years later, the father filed to establish paternity, custody, support, and parenting time. He subsequently amended the complaint to take out…
Read MoreTyler F. v. Sara P. (Nebraska 2020)
A properly executed paternity acknowledgement conclusively established paternity and cannot be set aside without a showing of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact. The Nebraska paternity statutes do not currently account for multiple legal parents for a child. This case is the latest appeal in an ongoing paternity action. On remand from Tyler F.…
Read MoreSpencer Diaz v. Department of Human Services, State of Mississippi and Lora M. Ledet
A technical error will not render a paternity acknowledgement void. When the mother and father met, the mother was already pregnant. The father signed a paternity acknowledgement several months after the child’s birth. Several years later, the parents separated, and the state of Mississippi filed to establish support. The father filed to disestablish paternity, claiming…
Read MoreState of Kansas v. Manson (Kansas 2019)
A voluntary acknowledgement of paternity must be revoked before the child turns one otherwise the parent-child relationship is permanent. The state of Kansas filed to establish support against the father for the benefit of a two-year-old child. The father had signed a voluntary acknowledgement at the child’s birth. At the hearing, he produced genetic test…
Read MoreState v. Julio G. (Nebraska 2019)
In Nebraska, an indigent parent is entitled to court-appointed counsel in paternity cases. The state of Nebraska filed a support action against the father and attached an acknowledgment of paternity. The father challenged the acknowledgment. He testified that he spoke no English, read no English, and did not understand what he was signing. The court…
Read MoreDowding v. Dowding (Nebraska 2019)
A signed and notarized paternity acknowledgement is a legal finding, which can only be challenged on the basis of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact. A challenge to an acknowledgment must be properly before the court. The parents had a child, and the father signed a paternity acknowledgement immediately after his birth. Several years…
Read MoreOsborn v. Anderson (Kansas 2018)
An annulment order doesn’t revoke a paternity acknowledgment without language to that effect. In this case, the father signed a paternity affidavit knowing that he wasn’t the child’s biological father. The father and mother married, but ended their marriage with a judicial annulment. The annulment order stated no children were born of the marriage. The…
Read MoreState on behalf of Marcelo K. & Rycki K. v. Ricky K. (Nebraska 2018)
Only final orders are appealable. By final, the order must dispose of all of the issues. Ricky K. was the acknowledged father of two children. The State filed an action to establish support. Ricky filed an answer and cross-claim, alleging he was not the father of one of the children, and requesting joint custody and…
Read MoreState ex rel. Secretary for Dep’t for Children and Families v. Smith (Kansas 2017)
A Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity (VAP) binds the signers unless it is revoked in the statutory time period. It does not create a presumption of paternity, as the father in this case argued. The father also argued the VAP did not qualify as an acknowledgement because it lacked certain formalities and that the VAP did not…
Read MoreTyler F. v. Sara P. (Nebraska 2016)
An individual may not bring a paternity action as the next friend of a child if the child has a parent who is already acting in that role. The next friend is meant to be used when the child does not have a parent or guardian who can act on its behalf. In this case,…
Read MoreIn re Adoption of Jaelyn B., Jesse B. v. Tylee H. (Nebraska 2016)
A Nebraska court must give full faith and credit to a valid paternity determination from another state and apply the law of that state when making decisions about the parent’s rights. In this case, a lower court improperly allowed the adoption of child without notice to the legal father, whose paternity had been established through…
Read MoreCesar C v. Alicia L (Nebraska 2011)
The proper effect of a signed, unchallenged acknowledgment of paternity is a finding that the individual who signed as the father is the legal father.
Read MoreJamie N v. Kenneth M (Nebraska 2015)
The doctrines of issue preclusion and res judicata do not bar a subsequent paternity action when the court did not have jurisdiction over the earlier proceedings.
Read MoreDNW v. State, Dept. of Family Services (Wyoming 2007)
Within the meaning of Parentage Act, a man who signs a paternity acknowledgment is held to be the natural father in certain circumstances, regardless of genetic testing that proves otherwise.
Read MoreState ex rel. SRS v. Kimbrel (Kansas 2010)
In an action brought by the Secretary of Social and Rehabilitation Services on behalf of a mother and her biological child for an order of child support, a district court may determine, based on genetic testing and a hearing to determine the best interest of the child (Ross hearing), that clear and convincing evidence proves…
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