Paying for someone else's kid Washington

[internetalk]

Hello, this is somewhat time sensitive so I'm posting this question even though it's probably answered on here somewhere, just in case I can't find it. The question is...

A friend of mine has recently realized that there's a very good chance his 5-year old son is not actually his. He never married the mother and he actually has not had a consistent relationship with his "son", either (mother's been less than friendly). He's paid child support the entire time. He's going to get a paternity test, but I've heard that if you've paid child support for a certain amount of time, then you have to keep paying even if you're not the father. If that's the case, he'll probably just adopt the kid and file for some custody.

Anyway, does anyone know if it's true that he could have to keep paying support even if the kid isn't his?

Thank you for any responses.

[CarynG]

If there is a child support order, then in the eyes of the law, he is the child's legal father. If he has never been married to the mother, and no DNA test has ever been done, then the only way a support order exists is because he signed an acknowledgement of paternity. He had 60 days after the date he signed that document to contest it. He has to keep paying child support because he is the child's legal father, regardless of whether he's the biological one. Adoption proceedings are unnecessary, because he is already the legal parent.

If he wants more time with his child, he either needs to file for visitation, or exercise the visitation order if he already has one - uncooperative mom or no.

[internetalk]

Thank you

Thank you very much for the reply.