Dependent ‘Confusion’ Upon Enlistment

T

talerco

Member
Jurisdiction
California
This is for a young friend..really.
'BOB' joined the Air Force and went to basic training about 6 months ago. He is now in tech training. Apparently, he has on several occasions been given paperwork to sign asking about dependents and has answered none.
The story......6 months before reporting for basic training his girlfriend had a baby. He thought it was his and was crazy in love. I'm told you can't join as a single parent. They planned to get married just before basic training. Then, the relationship fell apart in large part because a DNA test proved child was not his. However, he and her had signed and filed an Acknowledgment of Paternity which means he is legally the father.....on the official birth certificate.
At this time the mother has not filed for any support and wants him deleted as father but that process is very difficult and time consuming. The state likes when there is a father, any father. Real father not about to willingly take responsibility. Bob has signed documents approving her parents adopting the child but the mother goes back and forth on that. He was holing that would be complete before he reports for duty which would confirm his no dependents status.
So here we are and he is going to his first active duty location and will be asked again if he has a dependent.
Getting to the questions......
If he now states the fact that he legally has a dependent will that mean he joined fraudulently? If so, then what?
If he says he has no dependents and she later files for child support or in some other way the Air Force finds out he lied...then what?
I guess the question is..... what will get him in the least jeopardy. He's very reluctant to spill all this at this time. There seems to be no checkbox for this situation.
Thanks to all who got this far. Any advise much appreciated.
 
Bob need to file with the court to disestablish paternity. This should be a relatively easy process as the mother agrees. He NEEDS to do this ASAP or he WILL lose the chance and be financially responsible for this child for the next 18 or so years.
 
He has talked to several attorneys. They say that it is a long process and even if everyone agrees only 50/50 chance. We are told that the state has an interest in a child having 2 parents and barring a substitute the court may find, especially because he's in the military, that it is less likely that the mother and child will be on state welfare when Bob is still the father. He accepted that responsibility and the state has an interest in continuing that.
We have found that if she files for child support he can demand a court DNA test and relatively easily resolve the paternity problem...2-3 months and little cost....But papers would probably be served through the Air Force exposing his 'fraud'.
What would be the consequences of that mess?
 
I suggest he speak with his commanding officer about it..The more upfront he is now the less it is going to hurt him. They will understand why he had difficulty with the situation, but will not be so understanding why he delayed asking for help.
He certainly should not waste any more time. The sooner he acts the easier it will be.
 
I'll suggest he do that. Makes sense. Can you speculate....what's the worst that could happen. He's read parts of the UCMJ and is quite scared.
 
talerco said:
However, he and her had signed and filed an Acknowledgment of Paternity which means he is legally the father.....on the official birth certificate
Click to expand...
talerco said:
We have found that if she files for child support he can demand a court DNA test and relatively easily resolve the paternity problem..
Click to expand...
The time to ask for DNA was before signing paperwork. Most states will only allow 60 days to rescind the AOP. More than likely, the bio father will have to be involved.
Establishing Parentage/Paternity - paternity_famlaw_selfhelp
California Code, Family Code - FAM § 7575 | FindLaw
 
As I read that, the request to rescind is something that can be done within 60 days without additional court action.
Just after that it mentions a challenge can be made in court based on DNA or proving fraud, which apparently happened in this case as the mother was not honest when the declaration was signed.
It doesn't appear that simply rescinding the declaration is an option, but it can still be done with the proper court action, and there is apparently evidence to support both of the reasons listed for recission.

Your friend's command may be able to provide the assistance needed since the status of dependents is information they require, and he is likely helpless on his own.

I don't think the door is closed. It isn't too late.
 
PayrollHRGuy said:
Where's @army judge when you need him?
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I really do appreciate all the input........
But to be frank we do know (or think we do) the options on settling the paternity issue. We have researched, spoken to lawyers and posted on the Family Law section of this site - with helpful feedback.
With all due respect and thankfulness - we are more interested in finding out the consequences of this on his Air Force career.
I don't know who army judge is but maybe we do need his - or anyone else' advise on how to get this right with the Air Force. It does look like his deployment has been delayed so we might have time to get this legally resolved before the dependent question is asked again - but again, he is very afraid of consequences if this comes out......Knowing this situation was self-caused.
 
talerco said:
I really do appreciate all the input........
But to be frank we do know (or think we do) the options on settling the paternity issue. We have researched, spoken to lawyers and posted on the Family Law section of this site - with helpful feedback.
With all due respect and thankfulness - we are more interested in finding out the consequences of this on his Air Force career.
I don't know who army judge is but maybe we do need his - or anyone else' advise on how to get this right with the Air Force. It does look like his deployment has been delayed so we might have time to get this legally resolved before the dependent question is asked again - but again, he is very afraid of consequences if this comes out......Knowing this situation was self-caused.
Click to expand...

Army Judge is a moderator here that used to be an army judge. Keep checking back I'm sure he will see this post sooner or later.
 
talerco said:
With all due respect and thankfulness - we are more interested in finding out the consequences of this on his Air Force career.
Click to expand...

I suggest you advise your young airman friend to seek an appointment with one of the local AF JAGs.

He'll KNOW what that means.

My guess, based upon what the military generally does, is that nothing will come of this with regard to any legal jeopardy attaching to the young man.

He has no LEGAL dependents in the sense the military attributes to the term.

He may have SUSPICIONED he had fathered a child, but genetic testing soon negated that possibility.

The child has a father, for sure.

However, the young airman you know is NOT the father of the said child.

Therefore, his answers provided over time have been consistent and clear, buttressed by his direct knowledge of the negative genetic testing result.

The lad has no legal dependents, despite his once errant belief to the contrary.

Once he has met with an AF JAG, I'm sure anything regarding negative UCMJ consequences will also be made clear.
 
army judge said:
I suggest you advise your young airman friend to seek an appointment with one of the local AF JAGs.

He'll KNOW what that means.

My guess, based upon what the military generally does, is that nothing will come of this with regard to any legal jeopardy attaching to the young man.

He has no LEGAL dependents in the sense the military attributes to the term.

He may have SUSPICIONED he had fathered a child, but genetic testing soon negated that possibility.

The child has a father, for sure.

However, the young airman you know is NOT the father of the said child.

Therefore, his answers provided over time have been consistent and clear, buttressed by his direct knowledge the genetic testing.

The lad has no legal dependents, despite his once errant belief to the contrary.

Once he has met with an AF JAG, I'm sure anything regarding negative UCMJ consequences will also be made clear.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much!
Sounds very reasonable.
 
talerco said:
Thank you so much!
Sounds very reasonable.
Click to expand...

You're welcome, please let us know when you learn more.

One final point, if a male is told he fathered a child, he should immediately have genetic testing done to prove the allegation.

These days, I suggest the male do so even if he is married to the woman alleging he is the father.

This is a message I repeat regularly whenever I do pro bono work with our veteran community.

Along with the message about protecting oneself from sexually transmitted diseases, one should also ensure any alleged parenthood with genetic testing.

Various studies allege that 20-35% of all males purported to be fathers aren't what the allegation specifies.

One has only to watch a couple episodes of Lauren Lake's Paternity Court or Maury Povich's daily extravaganza to understand that paternity shouldn't be accepted until proven scientifically.
 
army judge said:
You're welcome, please let us know when you learn more.

One final point, if a male is told he fathered a child, he should immediately have genetic testing done to prove the allegation.

These days, I suggest the male do so even if he is married to the woman alleging he is the father.

This is a message I repeat regularly whenever I do pro bono work with our veteran community.

Along with the message about protecting oneself from sexually transmitted diseases, one should also ensure any alleged parenthood with genetic testing.

Various studies allege that 20-35% of all males purported to be fathers aren't what the allegation specifies.

One has only to watch a couple episodes of Lauren Lake's Paternity Court or Maury Povich's daily extravaganza understand that paternity shouldn't be accepted until proven scientifically.
Click to expand...
IMHO it should be mandatory with all wed/unwed situations.
 
army judge said:
You're welcome, please let us know when you learn more.

One final point, if a male is told he fathered a child, he should immediately have genetic testing done to prove the allegation.

These days, I suggest the male do so even if he is married to the woman alleging he is the father.

This is a message I repeat regularly whenever I do pro bono work with our veteran community.

Along with the message about protecting oneself from sexually transmitted diseases, one should also ensure any alleged parenthood with genetic testing.

Various studies allege that 20-35% of all males purported to be fathers aren't what the allegation specifies.

One has only to watch a couple episodes of Lauren Lake's Paternity Court or Maury Povich's daily extravaganza understand that paternity shouldn't be accepted until proven scientifically.
Click to expand...
army judge said:
You're welcome, please let us know when you learn more.

One final point, if a male is told he fathered a child, he should immediately have genetic testing done to prove the allegation.

These days, I suggest the male do so even if he is married to the woman alleging he is the father.

This is a message I repeat regularly whenever I do pro bono work with our veteran community.

Along with the message about protecting oneself from sexually transmitted diseases, one should also ensure any alleged parenthood with genetic testing.

Various studies allege that 20-35% of all males purported to be fathers aren't what the allegation specifies.

One has only to watch a couple episodes of Lauren Lake's Paternity Court or Maury Povich's daily extravaganza to understand that paternity shouldn't be accepted until proven scientifically.
Click to expand...
Much appreciated and I don't want to argue with the judge however......
Given what you said I was hoping I could document that he has no problem with the Air Force as the child is not considered a legal dependent. That just leaves the civilian problem of un-tangling the 'Acknowledgement of Paternity'.
I read 37U.S.C section 401 and couldn't quite twist it enough to convince me this child is not legally a dependent even though Bob is contributing nothing to his care. Child is 1 year old and not incapacitated.
I also found that the military considers a dependent as cut and pasted below;
Who Does the Military Consider a Dependent?
For enlistment purposes, a dependent is defined as:
A spouse, to include a common law spouse if the state recognizes such; or
  • Any natural child (legitimate or illegitimate) or child adopted by the applicant, if the child is under 18 years of age and unmarried, regardless of whether or not the applicant has custody of the child. The term natural child includes any illegitimate child when: the applicant claims the child as theirs, or the applicant's name is listed on the birth certificate as the parent, or a court order establishes paternity, or if any person makes an allegation of paternity that has not been finally adjudicated by a court; or
  • ...........others......
  • I'm afraid this still leaves us with him providing false information at enlistment because the Acknowledgement of Paternity put his name on the birth certificate / with the force of a court order.
  • Am I wrong?
  • Thanks - sorry, don't know how to get rid of dots after cut and paste.

  • Also note he really is a fine young man. At 24 should have recognized a bad match but was 'insane' in love and even wanted to marry and raise the child as his own (afetr finding it was not bio his)--- until girls true colors appeared.
  • I will share all your information with him as I try to coax him to make better choices next time.
 
army judge said:
I agree with you 20,000,000%.

Parentage remains one of the planet's dirty, little secrets, despite the advent of genetic testing.

Fatherhood laws remain in the dark ages.
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Agreed about the policy that allowed my friend to easily get named on the birth certificate. The state (Arizona - but California law posted above is the same) then has an interest in a child having 2 parents and lawyers have told us really doesn't care about biology any more.
None of this is to excuse my idiot young friend.
 
talerco said:
Agreed about the policy that allowed my friend to easily get named on the birth certificate. The state (Arizona - but California law posted above is the same) then has an interest in a child having 2 parents and lawyers have told us really doesn't care about biology any more.
None of this is to excuse my idiot young friend.
Click to expand...
California links were posted, as you first posted that California had jurisdiction. Now, you say that Arizona is the proper jurisdiction.

This is why many people (including myself, normally) will not answer third party questions.
Laws vary state to state. o_O
 
KatDini said:
California links were posted, as you first posted that California had jurisdiction. Now, you say that Arizona is the proper jurisdiction.

This is why many people (including myself, normally) will not answer third party questions.
Laws vary state to state. o_O
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I guess I should have listed 'US Military'. This IS a military forum.
He is located in California. My question continues to be about about military law and repercussions, not any state law. Mama and baby are in Arizona where child was born and birth certificate lists him as father. I understand how the discussion evolved into the state matter of paternity but as you see above I have tried to stick to the military law question of accuracy of enlistment documents.
My comment about the California links was just to point out (and agree with the post I responded to) that at least 2 states allow anyone to become listed on a birth certificate without even a notarized statement. Bob's was 'witnessed' by a friend and now has the effect of a court order.
 
army judge said:
I suggest you advise your young airman friend to seek an appointment with one of the local AF JAGs.

He'll KNOW what that means.

My guess, based upon what the military generally does, is that nothing will come of this with regard to any legal jeopardy attaching to the young man.

He has no LEGAL dependents in the sense the military attributes to the term.

He may have SUSPICIONED he had fathered a child, but genetic testing soon negated that possibility.

The child has a father, for sure.

However, the young airman you know is NOT the father of the said child.

Therefore, his answers provided over time have been consistent and clear, buttressed by his direct knowledge of the negative genetic testing result.

The lad has no legal dependents, despite his once errant belief to the contrary.

Once he has met with an AF JAG, I'm sure anything regarding negative UCMJ consequences will also be made clear.
Click to expand...
He signed an AOP though - so isn't he legally the father? If it's been more than 60 days he's gonna need a lawyer to get any rights removed right? It's been six months so he's gotta do some serious work with a lawyer to get his rights relinquished. I didn't see the state but in most if an AOP is signed, that establishes parental rights.

He should be honest with his recruiter or wherever he is at this point in the AF and tell them what's going on "Look this girl said the kid was mine, I signed some papers, now the DNA test says no and I have to get my rights relinquished." That kind of thing. Any NCO or OIC is going to work with someone who is honest.
 

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