Form 3-38

This cause of action is used when alleging that a third party is the biological father of a child born of the marriage of the petitioner and the respondent. This material can be incorporated, if appropriate, as an integral part of the divorce pleading to be inserted as a paragraph preceding the prayer. (If the mate­rial is incorporated in the respondent’s pleading, it should be reworded to reflect that the respondent, rather than the petitioner, is the complainant.) Additional service is required on a third-party co-respon­dent.

The presumption of paternity may be rebutted only by an adjudication of parentage under subchapter G, chapter 160, of the Code (or by the filing of a valid denial of paternity by a presumed father in con­junction with the filing by another person of a valid acknowledgment of paternity as provided by Code section 160.305). Tex. Fam. Code § 160.204(b). Therefore, the divorce pleading should include a denial of the presumed father’s paternity. See form 3-1, paragraph 11.C. For additional pleadings that may be appropriate, see form 54-1.

Parentage Action

1.Identity of Co-Respondent

Petitioner further complains of [name of co-respondent], Co-Respondent, who may be served with citation at [address, city, state, zip code].

Co-Respondent is the father of the following child the subject of this suit:

Name:

Sex:

Birth date:

Co-Respondent is the father of a child expected to be born of [name of mother] on or about [expected birth date].

2.Genetic Testing

Petitioner requests the Court, promptly after appearance of Co-Respondent[s] [include if filed before child is born: and as soon as medically practical after the birth of the child], to order the mother, the alleged father, and the child to submit to genetic testing in accordance with chapter 160 of the Texas Family Code, unless the alleged father files a pleading admit­ting paternity or admits paternity under oath in open court. Petitioner further requests that the presumed father, [name], be ordered to submit to genetic testing in accordance with chapter 160 of the Texas Family Code.

Before this suit was filed, genetic testing was done with the consent of the mother and of each presumed, acknowledged, adjudicated, or alleged father.

3.Prayer

Petitioner prays for an order adjudicating Co-Respondent as the father of the child [name of child], that [name] be appointed [sole/joint] managing conservator of the child, and that appropriate orders be made for the support of the child, for payment of an equitable por­tion of all prenatal and postnatal health-care expenses of the mother and child, and for pay­ment of the fees, expenses, and costs of Petitioner in bringing this action.