A Texas story involving a child, her grandmother and a man who calls himself her father has cast a strong light on paternity law and how the process can unfold in a complex case.

At first blush, the tale seems inordinately convoluted. Fundamentally, though, the story line is as follows. A man and woman have a long-term relationship. At some point, the woman's daughter enters the picture. The daughter is troubled - a prostitute, on drugs, suffering from a mental illness. The man, while in a romantic relationship with the girl's mother, has an affair with the daughter.

A child is born in February 2008, though no one is sure who the father is. The mother dies shortly thereafter in a car accident, and an acrimonious custody battle ensues between the grandmother and the man who is now her former lover.

For the next 2 ½ years, issues reign large over who said what, signed what and what the dead mother intended. The man said that all parties consistently treated him as the child's father, and that he and the mother executed an acknowledgment of paternity. The grandmother, who took the child to Illinois to live with relatives, challenged the acknowledgment as false.

Things came to a head when, earlier this year, the man brought legal action for custody of the child. A Texas judge amended the child's birth records to acknowledge the man as father. The man then filed a petition in court asking that the child be located and brought to him. A second judge ruled that the man was entitled to immediate possession of the child.

The grandmother challenged that and asked for a paternity test, which was granted. Although the DNA results showed that the man was not the child's biological father, the judge ruled that the results were irrelevant and placed the child with the man.

Legal authorities in Texas have called the case notable because it involves a grandmother rather than a mother and because, although the grandmother shares the child's genetics and the man does not, the child has been placed with the man.

"But in any case, the court always looks at the best interest of the child," says one commentator. "That being paramount, this child has had a relationship with this man and looks at this man as being her father."

As the case clearly demonstrates, paternity can involve complex legal issues. A person seeking to establish or defend against paternity should contact an experienced family law attorney.

Related Resource: www.star-telegram.com "Complex child case shines spotlight on paternity law" October 9, 2010