questions & answers

Question: I have a step son who’s 18 yo and will be 19 in a month who recently just had a baby. My question is this, he recently received a paternity court summons and in the summons it says he has 20 days to respond. Needless to say he hasn’t responded and he’s just ignoring the summons. What will happen if he continues to ignore this summons? It’s already passed the 20 day window.

Answer: If he fails to respond, he may be legally adjudged the baby's father and an amount set for child support without him having any say in the matter.  If the child is his, he needs to file a response admitting paternity.  That allows him input in the process.  If he has questions as to whether or not he fathered the child, filing a response is even more important.  A response questioning paternity will trigger the court ordering a DNA test.