A “Paternity” case establishes whether or not a certain man is the natural father of a child. Due to the fact that women physically give birth to children means that their paternity is not in question. For men, regardless of whether they have been named as the child’s father on the birth certificate, they must be determined to be the natural father of the child legally before they can be granted legal rights to custody of the child. A paternity case can be brought by the father or the mother of the child(ren).

In any paternity case, three basic items have to be determined:

      1. Paternity It must be established that the man alleged to be the father of the child in the case is actually the natural father. Often, the paternity of the man is not actually in dispute. If both parties agree that the man is the natural father of the child, both parties simply state this fact and move on to the issues of custody and support below.

However, if either party questions whether the man actually fathered the child, a DNA test will be ordered to make a determination. If the test proves that he is not the father, the case will be dismissed. If the test proves that he is indeed the natural father of the child, the case proceeds to the issues of custody and support below.

Note: Paternity cannot be legally established until the child is born, although the case can be filed prior to the birth. As paternity cases can take many months to complete, it may be a good idea to file as soon as possible.

       2. Child Custody

– Physical Custody (who has physical possession of the children)

Under Missouri Law, the Court must begin under the premise that each parent should have frequent, continuing and meaningful contact with both parents. However, there is no set guideline for how much time a parent should have under this standard and each case is evaluated independently. In fact, a multitude of factors are considered in order for a Judge to determine how much time is appropriate with each parent (see our section on Child Custody under the “Practice Areas” tab for a more detailed explanation).

Specifically in paternity cases, we are often dealing with new born children or very young children and there isn’t much history to help the Court determine what type of parent each party will be. Often, the father will not have ever had possession of the child for an extended period of time, or overnight. In other cases, he might not have seen the child at all. In many cases both parents are quite young themselves and their own living situation and lifestyle become issues of scrutiny.

Physical Custody can range from equal time with both parents, to very limited supervised visitation for parents that pose a risk to the child due to a criminal background or drug use, etc. If significant time is spent in the custody of each parent, we refer to it as “Joint Physical Custody” and if one parent has much more time than the other, we refer to it as “Sole Physical Custody”. However, the labels are misleading as “sole” custody does not mean only one parent has time with the child and “joint” custody does not mean equal time with each parent.

– Legal Custody (who makes decisions for the child as to medical care, schooling, etc.)

The Court will also determine if the parents will make major decisions for the child together by agreement or if only one parent will have the right to make such decisions. There is no middle ground as the terms “sole” and “joint” legal custody mean exactly that.

Major decisions include things like religious upbringing, child care providers, choice of school,

tutoring, extracurricular activities, camp or summer activities, non-emergency medical and dental treatment, psychological treatment/counseling, choice of doctor, the extent of any travel away from home, part or full-time employment, operation of a motor vehicle, contraception and sex education, and decisions relating to actual or potential litigation on behalf of the child.

The Court will begin under the premise that both parents should have a say in major decisions. If one party believes the parents will not be able to make decisions together, it will be up to that party to state the specific reasons and to convince the Court. Generally, it takes much more than showing that the parties just don’t get along well enough to make decisions together. To terminate one parent’s ability to make decisions for their child, requires compelling evidence that the parent cannot or will not participate in the decision making. Often, this is due to alcoholism, drug addiction, or an otherwise reckless lifestyle.  Sometimes the relationship between the parents is so poisonous that joint decision-making would result in constant deadlocks or intentional thwarting of one parent’s wishes for no good reason. In order to win these types of arguments, hard evidence of past destructive behavior on one parent’s part will be required to obtain sole legal custody.   

      3. Child Support (will one parent pay the other to assist with expenses related to the children)

Generally the parent with more physical custody time will receive child support from the other parent. The specific amount is determined via a mathematical calculation based primarily upon the gross incomes of both parties. These calculations are made on a form known as the “Missouri  Form 14” which can be found here: https://www.courts.mo.gov/file.jsp?id=29740.

Child support calculations are not based upon your expenses, only your income! Therefore, you cannot claim that you cannot afford to pay child support unless your monthly income minus the child support causes you to fall below a very low poverty level. Even then, you can only receive an adjustment to the child support amount. In fact, if you are found to be voluntarily underemployed based upon your skill/education level, the Court can “impute” your income (use the amount of income you ought to be earning) to calculate child support.

Once the incomes are established, a few adjustments are made for other children primarily residing with each parent, who pays the child’s insurance, who pays for daycare, and extraordinary medical costs. The last factor is a credit to the parent who will be paying child support based upon the number of overnights that parent has with the child per year.

The Form 14 is often the subject of much litigation, especially when a parent’s income is difficult to determine such as with contractors, individuals who are self-employed, and business owners who don’t receive a standard paycheck. However, child support doesn’t always have to be a fight. Parents are free to agree upon a reasonable amount of child support and to disregard the Form 14 amount. (see our section on Child Support under the “Practice Areas” tab for a more detailed explanation).

 

This is the most basic outline and each of these points involves many strategic considerations.

A paternity case will result in a legally binding “Parenting Plan” that states in detail how the parents will handle each of the above items. The case will either end by settlement, where after evidence collection and negotiating, the parents arrive at an agreement as to all the above items; or by trial where the Judge hears testimony and evidence and then decides him/her self how on all the above issues.

If you have questions about paternity cases, contact us today for a free and confidential consultation. We’re here to help