# One night stand...fifteen years later...bill for child support? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 10, 2008, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057 "2008-11-10T17:12:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![greatshakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@greatshakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greatshakes)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057/1 "2008-11-10T17:12:10Z")
Not in real life, but I’m kind of wondering…the troublesome wench with whom I had a one night stand years and years ago knows my name and can track me down if she wants. She seemed enough of a zonk to do something like the scenario in the title. I don’t think there was a baby involved, but, what if there is? Could I be presented with a several hundred thousand dollar bill? Would there be any recourse for me? I would hate to think that I would have to pay for a baby that I didn’t know that I had for such a major period of time. Any thoughts? Thanks, greatshakes ---
**Author:** ![shallora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@shallora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shallora)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057/2 "2008-11-10T17:15:17Z")
Get a lawyer. ---
**Author:** ![greatshakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@greatshakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greatshakes)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057/3 "2008-11-10T17:26:27Z")
Any OTHER thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057/4 "2008-11-10T17:27:59Z")
Yes, certainly possible. I’m sure a quick googling will come up with numerous instances of exactly that. ---
**Author:** ![Sunglasses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@Sunglasses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunglasses)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057/5 "2008-11-10T18:08:36Z")
It happened to a fellow I dated. A woman he had a one night stand with 14 years prior applied for welfare and had to name a father in order to start getting checks. I don’t know all the legalities that led up to it but he suddenly had a 13 year-old daughter that he was paying child support for. It turned out well for him, though. She was the spitting image of him and they developed a close relationship. ---
**Author:** ![Sunglasses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@Sunglasses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunglasses)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057/6 "2008-11-10T18:16:21Z")
Oh, and he was not presented with a bill for retroactive support. He just had to start paying current support. ---
**Author:** ![shallora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@shallora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shallora)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057/7 "2008-11-10T18:21:20Z")
> [@shallora](#): > > Get a lawyer. . . . And a paternity test. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057/8 "2008-11-10T19:03:03Z")
This thread makes me glad that it’s been well over 18 years + 9 months since the last time I had unprotected sex with someone other than Mrs. Homie. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057/9 "2008-11-10T19:04:24Z")
> [@shallora](#): > > . . . And a paternity test. Still trying to figure out how it took six replies to get to this. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057/10 "2008-11-10T19:07:54Z")
Could I be presented with a several hundred thousand dollar bill? Yes Would there be any recourse for me? No ---
**Author:** ![Sanity\_Challenged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@Sanity\_Challenged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sanity_Challenged)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057/11 "2008-11-10T19:09:55Z")
> [@shallora](#): > > Get a lawyer. > [@shallora](#): > > . . . And a paternity test. …and an SUV with “Proud Parent of blah blah blah” bumper sticker. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057/12 "2008-11-10T19:17:34Z")
I originally posted this in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=490699): > **[Florida man owes $10,000 for child who's not his - CNN.com](https://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/11/paternity.cases/index.html)** > > Francisco Rodriguez owes more than $10,000 in back child support payments in a paternity case involving a 15-year-old girl who, according to DNA results and the girl's mother, is not his daughter. > [@](#): > > Rodriguez’s odyssey began in 1990, when he says at age 16 he had a four- to five-month relationship with a woman CNN is not identifying. He says when the relationship ended, he did not hear from her again until child support papers arrived at his home in 2003. > > "My wife and I both had a confused look, and we’re wondering, ‘Where is the DNA test?’ " he says. > > But it was long past Florida’s deadline to contest paternity. A court had already named him the father three years before when he did not respond to notices to appear, notices he says he never received because he had moved a lot. > > He was now on the hook for monthly child support, as well as $10,623 in back child support. [http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20081013\_11\_A1\_Brande636682](http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20081013_11_A1_Brande636682) > [@](#): > > An alleged father must appear at a child support hearing to request a paternity test. If he does not appear, he is legally designated as the father and child support is established in most cases. > > Once designated as the father, that person is financially responsible for the child until he or she is 18 or adopted with a few stipulations for petitions which may vacate the original order, according to Oklahoma statutes. So yes, it IS possible. ---
**Author:** ![happ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@happ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happ)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057/13 "2008-11-10T19:51:02Z")
The scary thing is that even if you are found through a paternity test to not be the father, if the state has deemed that you are legally the father, you are still on the hook. I know someone that found out his wife had an affair and the kid wasn’t his. She divorced a year after the child was born, which he didn’t see coming, and told him about the affair and the child’s true father to twist the knife a bit more. Since he did not dispute the paternity within the required timeframe, he is now paying child support for a child that never was his. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057/14 "2008-11-10T20:20:39Z")
And the state can even collect child support from you a lot later – like even after you’re dead! I’ve worked for the State Collections system, and they had a process where death notices from all counties in the state were compared to a list of people who owed the state past-due child support. If a match was found, the State filed a claim against the deceased’s estate for that money. It wasn’t uncommon for the ‘child’ to be retired and collecting Social Security at the time. Didn’t matter to the State – money does not go stale. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057/15 "2008-11-10T21:54:46Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > This thread makes me glad that it’s been well over 18 years + 9 months since the last time I had unprotected sex with someone other than Mrs. Homie. Since the OP has been answered, may I hijack and inquire if the “unprotected” part of that comment was an innocent or a necessary modifier? Or does Mrs. H not read The Dope? ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057/16 "2008-11-10T22:45:42Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > Since the OP has been answered, may I hijack and inquire if the “unprotected” part of that comment was an innocent or a necessary modifier? Or does Mrs. H not read The Dope? It was innocent. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057/17 "2008-11-11T01:08:32Z")
> [@](#): > > So yes, it IS possible. If I understand the article correctly, Mr Rodriguez is being ordered to retroactively pay back to when the court ordered the payments in 2000, not back to when the child was born in 1990. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057/18 "2008-11-11T01:21:40Z")
> [@shallora](#): > > . . . And a paternity test. Which is something that [this bloke should have done.](http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24632941-5001021,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057/19 "2008-11-11T02:52:19Z")
Retroactive child support is usually done at the judges discretion. If the mother has been scratching by on minimum wage and trying to contact you for a decade while you kept quitting jobs and changing your phone number, expect to get hit with fifteen years of child support. If the mother did nothing to tell you about it and you man up and be a father once you find out the child exists, you’re more likely to only pay until the child is 18. ---
**Author:** ![1010011010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057/20 "2008-11-11T03:50:31Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Still trying to figure out how it took six replies to get to this. Probably because if you’re receiving a bill for unpaid child-support the time period for you to appeal paternity has probably already expired. You can have a DNA test conclusively proving the child is not yours and it wouldn’t matter. THINK OF THE CHILDREN at its finest. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-night-stand-fifteen-years-later-bill-for-child-support/472057.md?page=2)