questions & answers

Question: My sons father got summonsed to court for a paternity test for another girls child he did not receive any papers in the mail. He got served with papers yesterday and it said he is going to automatically have to pay her child support because he did not show up for the test how do we go about redoing this he is not on birth certificate and does not think the child is his . he would of showedup but was not informed untill the day of the test in court.what do we do .

Answer: Under A.R.S. §25-807(F) a party may challenge paternity. But the party challenging only has 20 days from the date the report was received. There are packets available through the Maricopa County Superior Court self-service center. In where a petition has already been filed a party will file a response where they have the opportunity to contest paternity. This packet is available at: http://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/sscDocs/packets/drp3iz.pdf It is important to note that if a party does not respond to a petition to establish paternity the court can enter a default order of paternity establishing the respondent as the parent. As there was not a testing done a party may petition the court to contesting the results. The court will look to determine if the parties where honest and made a lawful attempt to serve the parties. There is a cost of $264 associated with filing the documents, but a party can seek a deferral of costs to assist.The question is unclear as to whether your child's father was properly served with the initial paternity papers (the Petition).  The law requires that he be personally served with the summons to court and the Petition alleging paternity. It is only after the father is served, that the time begins to run for him to file h is response.