Can You Disclaim Paternity in Maryland After Acknowledging It on a Child’s Birth Certificate?
There are several ways for a putative father to establish paternity in Maryland. The easiest is to be married to the child’s mother when that child is conceived or born. In that scenario, Maryland law automatically presumes the parent who did not give birth is the father.
If the parents are unmarried, however, the non-birth parent can still claim paternity by signing an Affidavit of Parentage. This creates a legal finding of paternity. Among other things, signing such an affidavit enables a person to be listed as the child’s father on the birth certificate.
Maryland Courts Refuse Belated Attempt to Deny Divorced Father’s Paternity
So what happens if someone signs an Affidavit of Parentage but later comes to believe that someone else is the child’s father? If this discovery occurs within 60 days of signing the Affidavit, the putative father can sign a Rescission Form and effectively “take back” their acknowledgment of paternity. But after 60 days have passed, the only way to nullify the Affidavit is to obtain a court order. Even then, the burden is on the person who signed the Affidavit to prove that they were the victim of fraud or duress, or that a “material mistake of fact” led to them to incorrectly acknowledge paternity.
One thing you should not expect a judge to go along with is trying to undo a paternity determination years after the fact, especially if you knew from the beginning that you were not the child’s biological father. This situation came up in a recent Appellate Court of Maryland case, Massaquoi v. Massaquoi. This was a divorce case involving a husband and wife who have two children. The older child was born while the parents were still dating. In fact, the wife was already seven months pregnant when she began her relationship with the husband.
Even though the husband knew he was not the child’s father, he still signed the birth certificate, establishing his paternity as a matter of law. The couple later married and had another child before the husband filed for divorce in 2020. At this point the first child was eight years old. The final divorce judgment, issued in December 2021, ordered the husband to pay child support for both children and granted him visitation rights.
The husband never appealed the divorce judgment. But five months later he filed a new motion to disestablish his paternity of the eight-year-old, citing “newly discovered evidence” in the form of contact from the man he claimed was the child’s biological father. The trial court denied this motion as “untimely.” The husband then tried to raise the issue of paternity again when filing a separate motion to reduce his child support. Again, the trial court denied the motion as untimely, and the Appellate Court affirmed, noting any paternity claims by the father were “barred by res judicata,” a legal doctrine forbidding parties from re-litigating already decided claims.
Contact a La Plata Paternity Lawyer Today
When it comes to proving or disproving paternity, it is important not to delay in seeking legal clarification. Paternity governs a host of legal rights and obligations, so it is important any dispute is resolved in a fair and expeditious manner. If you need legal advice from a qualified La Plata paternity lawyer, contact Fanning Law today at 301-934-3620 to schedule a consultation. We serve clients in LaPlata, Waldorf, and Lexington Park.
Source:
scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15812940993801332689
