In my opinion, Administrative actions in Missouri that order a person to pay child support are ripe for error and constitutionally weak.
Too often, the father named on the birth certificate is not the child’s biological father. He is the mother’s new guy or husband, and maybe she does not even know who is the father but names the one she thinks best under the circumstances. The mother can point the finger at a guy she knows is not the child’s biological father and the Children’s Division run with it as though the gospel truth.
When the Children’s Division presumes the guy the mother names is the child’s father, a notice goes out to the presumed father advising him of his need to request a hearing if he disagrees with the child support amount proposed by the Division.
A poor, uneducated, or legally inept “father’ may not request a paternity test or other action to refute the Division’s child support proposal.
Or, the presumed father may have been supporting a child not his for years and believe he is the father of that child, thus seeing no need for paternity testing. Or he may know that he is not the biological father but have cared and loved the child for years, leading him to consider the child as his own and not request paternity testing.
To avoid these mistakes, paternity testing should be required in all Children’s Division cases. Cost of testing weighs far less than harm to presumed fathers who are not the actual biological father of the child. Too, such mistakes cost the real, biological father an opportunity to know and be a part of the child’s life. Perhaps the ultimate loser is a the child who grows up never knowing his real father.
Kurt H. King
20 E. Franklin, Liberty, Clay County, Missouri 64068
816.781.6000
Family Law, Personal Injury, Litigation, Other Matters
The Law Office of Kurt H King 