paternity

My boyfriend just found out he may be the father of a 4 year old, he never new about this kid, the guy who thought he was the father and has raised this child had a paternity test and found out he wasn't the father.
Anyway, my question is who pays for the paternity test, can they collect back support from my boyfriend even though he had no idea the child was his? And if we get married, I own a house in my name, can the courts ever come after me for anything after wer'e married. If I were to die after we were married, can his daughter ever get any part of my house? Should I keep everything in my name?
I live in NY state, please tell me anything you can on what could happen after this DNA testing, do we have any rights? He doesn't want this child to be a part of his life right now.

Thank you, Sandy

Ok. I have the answers for you!!! You need to immediately consult with a family law attorney near you. Possibly also a wills, trust and estate planning attorney. You can find one at [url="http://attorneypages"]attorneypages[/url]. First talk with a family law attorney. He or she may also be able to help you with the trust. I will explain more as I go along. Regarding the paternity test, you or your boyfriend has to pay for that. Whether it is necessary or not, depends on your state's laws. The other guy might be stuck with being considered a presumptive father. If he is the presumptive father than he might be stuck with the child support payments. If not, then the actual father will be hit with back child support payments with interest on it, thank you very much. Furthermore, child support payments can never be erased through a bankruptcy filing. Whether the home (in your name) can be attached for back child support payments depends on how you and your soon to be husband handle the mortgage payments during the marriage. In other words, if when you are married, you and your husband take the money you earn and jointly pay for the mortgage, then the home has been by operation of law changed into a piece of marital property. This is called transmutation. You personally would own a percentage of the home as your sole property, as determined by how much money you paid down on it from purchase to the date of the marriage. You would also own a 50% share of that portion of the home that is marital property.

See how confusing this is without prior planning??? To avoid this problem, I am suggesting the following plan of defense. It is of course subject to change by the family law attorney you hire. First, you need to set up a revocable living trust for yourself personally. This will include a will, power of attorney for health care and or financial matters. The house, along with all your other personal property is put into the trust.

This trust will also take care of the questions/concerns about your pre-deceasing your husband, and attacks on the property by the daughter. Plus, a trust will avoid probate and reduce your estate taxes, thus leaving more of your property to your loved ones.
Second, you and your boyfriend sign a premarital agreement which sets forth who owns what and whose debts are whose prior to and during the marriage.

Third, after the marriage the trust can be modified to reflect any new dependents, assets, debts, etc. Or it can be revoked. OK?

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Mark B. Replogle

[This message has been edited by Attorney_Replogle (edited February 24, 2000).]