Life is seldom simple, and sometimes we find ourselves in very challenging circumstances. You likely understand this fact if you are a single woman and are expecting a child or have just given birth. In this situation, you may have some important decisions to make regarding how to financially maintain your household.
Keeping up with expenses can be difficult when both parents are contributing to the family budget. But if you are a single mother with no other financial support, you and your child may face economic hardships. Therefore, it is important that the child’s father also provides financial support.
Sometimes a woman is hesitant to force the issue of paternity and demand the father help support his child. It may be that the pregnancy was unplanned, and the woman feels guilty obligating the man who unknowingly fathered a child. It is also possible the man may resist supporting the child, perhaps claiming that he is not the father.
However, it is important to remember that child rearing costs only increase as the years go by, and the child gets older. You will need more money to satisfactorily provide for the child’s needs. As such, even if you find it difficult to force the issue, it is in the child’s best interest that the father contribute to helping pay the child’s expenses.
Attorney Keith E. Holloway has experience helping his clients settle paternity and child support disputes. Mr. can act on your behalf in establishing paternity as well as creating a fair support agreement. You can read the Paternity page on this website to learn more about how such cases are handled in Texas.