Child support question??

[Sarak7]

If the father refuses a DNA test.. what happens then? must he have one done, does he have a say in the matter?

[Veritas]

I believe, and this is only my understanding, that if its done through Child Support Agency, then they take care of the legality side of it.....

It may be a case that the matter goes to court, or is enforced by court order....

I am aware that if that is the case, you can have Legal Aid pay for your half (and your ex pays the other half) up front, and whoever the testing finds in favour of bears the whole cost in the end, ie. if it is found that he is the father, he must pay the entire cost of testing.

Hope this helps....

[Gribel]

HI
If you already are registered to get $$ from CSA and he refuses to do the DNA Test, then CSA will assume that he is the father without proof and he will have to pay up. If he is denying parenthood but is ok with a DNA test CSA will give your case back to Centrelink to meet with a Social Worker who then refers your case to Legal Aid and they will then handle all matters, which means you don't have to have contact with the father at all. DNA Testing will be organized by them as well, and if the Test shows that he is the father, he has to pay $385 to Legal Aid for the DNA Test. Once you have the results it then goes in front of the Family Court (agaimn, you don't need to attend, all done by Legal Aid) and the Court will say that upon the DNA Results they are satisfied that he is the parent and teh case will be given back to CSA to sort out the payments.

I just went thru this, I was lucky enough to have registered with CSA the day after DS was born, but it took as about 9 months to get everything sorted out (DNA Testing and Family Court, etc), but DS Dad now has to pay me back for those additional 9 months. Normally CSA doesnt backdate payments, so it all depends when you have registered with them.

Please feel free to PM me if you need any more info, am happy to help.