I have been accused of being the father of a married woman's child. What are my rights?
Full Question:
Answer:
In Arkansas, a putative father may bring an action to determine paternity. Under the adoption statutes, a putative father is defined as follows: “"Putative father" means any man not deemed or adjudicated under the laws of the jurisdiction of the United States to be the father of genetic origin of a child who claims or is alleged to be the father of genetic origin of the child.”
If paternity is established, the court will make orders for awarding custody, visitation, setting amounts of support, costs, and attorney's fees.
The following are AR statutes:
9-10-104. Suit to determine paternity of child born
outside of marriage.
Petitions for paternity establishment may be filed by:
(1) A biological mother;
(2) A putative father;
(3) A person for whom paternity is not presumed or
established by court order; or
(4) The Office of Child Support Enforcement of the Revenue
Division of the Department of Finance and Administration.
9-10-109. Child support following finding of paternity.
(a)(1)(A) Subsequent to the execution of an acknowledgment
of paternity by the father and mother of a child pursuant
to § 20-18-408 or § 20-18-409, or a similar acknowledgment
executed during the child's minority, or subsequent to a
finding by the court that the putative father in a paternity
action is the father of the child, the court shall follow the
same guidelines, procedures, and requirements as set forth in
the laws of this state applicable to child support orders and
judgments entered by the circuit court as if it were a case
involving a child born of a marriage in awarding custody,
visitation, setting amounts of support, costs, and attorney's
fees, and directing payments through the clerk of the court,
or through the Arkansas child support clearinghouse if the
case was brought pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social
Security Act.
(B) All child support payments paid by income withholding
shall be subject to the provisions set forth in § 9-14-801
et seq.
(2) The court may provide for the payment of support beyond
the eighteenth birthday of the child to address the
educational needs of a child whose eighteenth birthday
falls prior to graduation from high school so long as such
support is conditional on the child's remaining in school.
(3) The court may also provide for the continuation of
support for an individual with a disability that affects
the ability of the individual to live independently from
the custodial parent.
(b)(1)(A) All orders directing payments through the
registry of the court or through the Arkansas child support
clearinghouse shall set forth a fee to be paid by the
noncustodial parent or obligated spouse in the amount of
thirty-six dollars ($36.00) per year.
(B) The fee shall be collected from the noncustodial parent
or obligated spouse at the time of the first support
payment and during the anniversary month of the entry of
the order each year thereafter, or nine dollars ($9.00) per
quarter at the option of the obligated parent, until no
children remain minor and the support obligation is
extinguished and any arrears are completely satisfied.
(2) The clerk upon direction from the court and as an
alternative to collecting the annual fee during the
anniversary month each year after entry of the order may
prorate the first fee collected at the time of the first
payment of support under the order to the number of months
remaining in the calendar year and thereafter collect all
fees as provided in this subsection during the month of
January of each year.
(3)(A) Payments made for this fee shall be made on an
annual basis in the form of a check or money order payable
to the clerk of the court or other such legal tender that
the clerk may accept.
(B) This fee payment shall be separate and apart from the
support payment, and under no circumstances shall the
support payment be reduced to fulfill the payment of this
fee.
(4) Upon the nonpayment of the annual fee by the
noncustodial parent within ninety (90) days, the clerk may
notify the payor under the order of income withholding for
child support who shall withhold the fee in addition to any
support and remit it to the clerk.
(5)(A) All moneys collected by the clerk as a fee as
provided in this subsection shall be used by the clerk's
office to offset administrative costs as a result of this
subchapter.
(B)(i) Until all necessary data processing equipment has
been acquired, at least twenty percent (20%) of the moneys
collected annually shall be used to purchase, maintain, and
operate an automated data system for use in administering
the requirements of this subchapter.
(ii) The acquisition and update of software for the
automated data system shall be a permitted use of these
funds.
(C)(i) All fees collected under this subsection shall be
paid into the county treasury to the credit of the fund to
be known as the "support collection costs fund".
(ii) Moneys deposited in this fund shall be appropriated
and expended for the uses designated in this
subdivision (b)(5) by the quorum court at the direction of
the clerk of the court.
(c) The clerk of the court shall maintain accurate records
of all support orders and payments under this section.
(d) The clerk may accept the support payment in any form of
cash or commercial paper, including personal checks, and
may require that the custodial parent or nonobligated
spouse be named as payee thereon.
9-10-114. Visitation rights of father.
When any circuit court in this state determines the
paternity of a child and orders the father to make periodic
payments for support of the child, the court may also grant
reasonable visitation rights to the father and may issue
such orders as may be necessary to enforce the visitation
rights.
Please see the information at the following links:
http://definitions.uslegal.com/p/paternity/
http://lawdigest.uslegal.com/paternity/general/6649/
http://lawdigest.uslegal.com/family-laws/paternity/
http://definitions.uslegal.com/p/putative-father/
http://secure.uslegalforms.com/cgi-bin/forms/query.pl?S-T-AR-B-pater