Can I be forced to pay child support even though I did not know the cihld existed?

Full question:

One year ago I was contacted by a former girlfriend. She told me she believed her 13 year old daughter was mine. I had no idea I had a daughter or even the possibility. She left me prior to telling me she was pregnant and moved from Texas to Arizona with another man. The child was born in Arizona. The mother married this other man and he has raised the child as his own daughter. All three of them left Arizona and moved to Vermont. In Vermont the couple got divorced and they shared joint custody of the child. The mother re-married and moved to Tennesse. After moving the man fought and received FULL custody of the little girl. As I write this to you now he has full custody and the mother pays him child support. He is not the biological father. I did voluntarily submit a DNA sample which proved I was the biological father. I am not at all interested in disrupting this little girls life. She is 14 years old and has only known this other man as her father. I think the mother is going to try and use the DNA test to gain custody from her ex-husband and then try to get me to pay child support. I just can not imagine she can do this. Does she have the right 14 years later after losing custody of her daughter to this man pull this 'ace in the hole' out now and gain custody and force me to pay child support against his wishes and the little girl's?

• Category: Divorce
• Subcategory: Child Support
• Date: 04/07/2025
• State: National

Answer:

I am assuming there as no contact between yourself and the mother in Tennessee leading to the child's birth, which is required in order for the mother to file a paternity action in Tennessee where she resides. I am also assuming the child wasn't adopted by the custodial father.

In Vermont, the parentage determination in a final divorce decree is typically not open to collateral attack in a motion to modify child support. Instead, the final divorce order establishes parentage, and unlike parental rights and responsibilities and child support, the family court does not retain jurisdiction of parentage once the nisi period has run. A party wishing to contest parentage after the nisi period (3 months) must move to amend the judgment pursuant to Vermont Rule of Civil Procedure 60.

The following is a VT Rule of Civil Procedure:

RULE 60. RELIEF FROM JUDGMENT OR ORDER

(a) Clerical Mistakes. Clerical mistakes in judgments, orders or other parts of the record and errors therein arising from oversight or omission may be corrected by the court at any time of its own initiative or on the motion of any party and after such notice, if any, as the court orders. During the pendency of an appeal, such mistakes may be so corrected before the appeal is docketed in the Supreme Court, and thereafter while the appeal is pending may be so corrected with leave of the Supreme Court.

(b) Mistakes; Inadvertence; Excusable Neglect; Newly Discovered Evidence; Fraud, Etc. On motion and upon such terms as are just, the court may relieve a party or a party's legal representative from a final judgment, order, or proceeding for the following reasons:

(1) mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect;
(2) newly discovered evidence which by due diligence could not have been discovered in time to move for a new trial under Rule 59(b);
(3) fraud (whether heretofore denominated intrinsic or extrinsic), misrepresentation, or other misconduct of an adverse party;
(4) the judgment is void;
(5) the judgment has been satisfied, released, or discharged, or a prior judgment upon which it is based has been reversed or otherwise vacated, or it is no longer equitable that the judgment should have prospective application; or
(6) any other reason justifying relief from the operation of the judgment.

The motion shall be filed within a reasonable time, and for reasons (1), (2), and (3) not more than one year after the judgment, order, or proceeding was entered or taken. A motion under this subdivision (b) does not affect the finality of a judgment or suspend its operation. This rule does not limit the power of a court to entertain an independent action to relieve a party from a judgment, order, or proceeding, or to set aside a judgment for fraud upon the court. Writs of coram nobis, coram vobis, audita querela, and bills of review and bills in the nature of bills of review are abolished as means of reopening judgments entered under these rules, and the procedure for obtaining any relief from a judgment shall be by motion as prescribed in these rules or by an independent action.