I was pregnant at time of my annulment and ex-husband refuses to acknowledge child.

Full question:

I got my marriage annulled by the family court in Ohio after I found out that my husband had another wife living in New York. We were married for 10 months. I was 6 months pregnant with his child when I received the decree of annulment. He refuses to acknowledge the child to be his in order to avoid paying child support. I will not be able to support the child on my own. What do I do in such a situation?

• Category: Paternity
• Subcategory: Annulment
• Date: 04/07/2025
• State: Ohio

Answer:

In Ohio, there are certain instances wherein the courts presume the paternity of the child.  They are enumerated in ORC Ann. 3111.03 which reads:
 

" (A) A man is presumed to be the natural father of a child under any of the following circumstances:
(1) The man and the child's mother are or have been married to each other, and the child is born during the marriage or is born within three hundred days after the marriage is terminated by death, annulment, divorce, or dissolution or after the man and the child's mother separate pursuant to a separation agreement.
(2) The man and the child's mother attempted, before the child's birth, to marry each other by a marriage that was solemnized in apparent compliance with the law of the state in which the marriage took place, the marriage is or could be declared invalid, and either of the following applies:
(a) The marriage can only be declared invalid by a court and the child is born during the marriage or within three hundred days after the termination of the marriage by death, annulment, divorce, or dissolution;
(b) The attempted marriage is invalid without a court order and the child is born within three hundred days after the termination of cohabitation.
(3) An acknowledgment of paternity has been filed pursuant to section 3111.23 or former section 5101.314 of the Revised Code and has not become final under former section 3111.211 or 5101.314 or section 2151.232, 3111.25, or 3111.821 of the Revised Code. 
***"

Therefore, based on the above provision in the statute, it is reasonable to conclude that a person, on the annulment of their marriage, cannot avoid their responsibility to pay child support per ORC Ann. 3103.031. Because the child in this case will be born within 300 days from the date of annulment, the court shall presume that he is the father. Such presumption will bring upon him the liability to pay child support fixed per ORC Ann. 3103.03. It reads:
 

“A biological parent of a child, a man determined to be the natural father of a child under sections 3111.01 to 3111.18 or 3111.20 to 3111.85 of the Revised Code, a parent who adopts a minor child pursuant to Chapter 3107. of the Revised Code, or a parent whose signed acknowledgment of paternity has become final pursuant to section 2151.232, 3111.25, or 3111.821 of the Revised Code assumes the parental duty of support for that child. Notwithstanding section 3109.01 of the Revised Code and to the extent provided in section 3119.86 of the Revised Code, the parental duty of support to the child shall continue beyond the age of majority as long as the child continuously attends on a full-time basis any recognized and accredited high school. That duty of support shall continue during seasonal vacation periods.”