Dad’s name not on birth certificate, but mom wants support

Dear Mrs Macaulay,I would like to know what’s the procedure to file for child support, and what are the documents required. My son does not have his father’s last name because when I had him I was overseas. What’s the procedure with that and how can I file for child support?

Every child is legally entitled to have their necessities of life provided by their parents. Even when the father’s name is not on the birth certificate because the birth occurred in another country, this does not erase your son’s right to be maintained and to have a relationship with his father, and the law makes provision for this to happen.

What you must do is this: You must take your son’s birth certificate (the original or a certified copy) with you to the Family Court which serves your parish of residence and tell whichever clerk who speaks with you, that you are there to make applications for your son’s benefit. You must also have the alleged father’s proper name and address. Then when you are sent to the clerk who will take down your particulars and the statement about what you wish to apply for, you should tell that person what I suggest below, and do so clearly.

You must first say you wish to have a declaration of paternity made that so and so is the father of your child. Then you must also say that you also want an order for the custody and care and control of your child and an order of maintenance for his father to contribute to his maintenance, and an order to fix his access to him.

About the declaration of paternity, you will need to have the dates about when you and the man were intimate and the names of any witnesses to the relationship. It is best to have at least two of them because, if your son’s father does not accept that he is the father, the issue of his paternity may have to be tried, or he may ask for a DNA test to be done. This latter is generally granted and both parties normally pay for this procedure to be done. The clerk of courts will inform you both where the tests should be done, so that the court can be sure about the integrity of the test, and the result. If the result proves at the required level that he is the father, then the trial of the issue of paternity would be curtailed and the declaration of paternity would be made by the judge, who would then deal with the issue of custody, care and control and maintenance and access.

The order granting custody means that you will be able to make all important decisions about your son’s life and development. The order of care and control means that you will have the right to have the child live with you and you will look after him. Access to the father means that you and the father can agree when he can visit with his son, or his son visit with him. The order will state where access should be and what day(s) or hours of what day(s), and the specific times of starting, and when it ends.

For the maintenance, you should also take with you the costs and receipts, if you have any, of your confinement, and what it cost to provide for the child after birth and what you currently spend to provide for his housing (rent or mortgage), proportion of utility bills, transportation, food, clothing, shoes, barbering charges, toiletries, snacks, etcetera. The child care charges or educational expenses and medical, dental and optical charges are generally apportioned 50/50, unless one can show and prove why their share ought to be less than the other. I suggest that you prepare all this in a statement on paper because this makes the figures clear and makes it easier for the judge to deal with what is being applied for by you for your son’s maintenance.

So just go to the Family Court and tell them that you want to apply for a declaration of paternity, orders for sole custody (or joint depending on his attitude of acceptance or rejection), care and control, and maintenance for your son, and access to the father. All the applications will be prepared for you and you can ask for the bailiff of the court to serve your applications on him.

And finally, when the maintenance is being ordered, ask the court to have him pay his share into the court office as then it is easier to prove if he gets into arrears. Or you can ask that he pays his share into your bank account, or open one specially for it, but make sure that you keep all the records of his payments clear of other transactions — so a separate account is always best to prove or disprove his claims of payments.

All the best.

Margarette May Macaulay is an attorney-at-law, Supreme Court mediator, notary public, and women’s and children’s rights advocate. Send questions via e-mail to allwoman@jamaicaobserver.com; or write to All Woman, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5. All responses are published. Mrs Macaulay cannot provide personal responses.

DISCLAIMER:

The contents of this article are for informational purposes only, and must not be relied upon as an alternative to legal advice from your own attorney.