Good afternoon

I was approached by a woman claiming that her 5 year old son is mine. She asked if I woukd do a paternaty test. I want to know can she hold me liable for back payments and what are my options if I do not want to be involved with her or the child?

Thank you

I do not mind paying for the child going forward but I do not want to be part of their lives. She told me she was pregnant back then but then told me it was her ex boyfriends child

Hi there and thank you for your question,

I am a practicing attorney based in South Africa and I will assist you with your question. Please feel free to ask as many follow up questions in order to clarify your question. If you have a new question, you must please open a new thread.

First, I think that it is important for you to know that while she can't force you to submit to a paternity test, a court of law can. She will obviously need to convince the court that you could be the father, and that a DNA test is necessary.

If you are found to be the father of the child, then you can be held liable for arrear child maintenance, but only for the past 3 years. Anything older than that would have prescribed, and you would have a defence against that. 

And yes, she can hold you liable for maintenance moving forwards. 

There is no legal obligation on you to be a part of their lives. It is a personal decision. If you decide that you do not want to enforce your parental rights, you don't need to.

If there is a part of the answer which you need more advice on, or clarity please continue in this same thread instead of opening a new question.

Att. Patrick

Please remember this is a dialog if you have follow up questions please use the REPLY button and ask. If I did not answer the question you thought you were asking, please respond with the specific question you wanted answered. I hope you found my answer helpful, and you have finished asking your questions, please click on the GREEN ACCEPT button in order to mark the question as closed.