Recently in Paternity Category

Four out of five kids will grow up to be parents. So, wouldn't it be a good idea for children to learn how to be good parents while they're still in school? Lawmakers of the 80th Session of the Texas Legislature certainly thought so.

The Office of the Attorney General states that House Bill 2176 requires all school districts to incorporate the Parenting and Paternity Awareness (PAPA) program into their high school health curriculum. The purpose of this program is to teach students about the rights and responsibilities of parenting. The PAPA curriculum focuses on the importance of father involvement, the value of paternity establishment, and the legal criteria of child support. Perhaps today's youth will come out of high school knowing quite a bit about family law.

In many family law cases involving child support, adoption, child custody and visitation, and inheritance, there's a need to legally establish paternity. A paternity test establishes who the biological father is through DNA testing. Texas family law attorneys will often get involved in a case where there's a paternity dispute, but now there's a new home paternity test called Identigene that makes DNA testing easier than ever, because it's sold over the counter at drug stores and pharmacies.

DNATesting.com states that with Identigene, a DNA sample is collected from each paternity test participant using a cheek swab and that the swabs are tested by an accredited DNA paternity testing laboratory. Participants are usually able to view the paternity results online within 3-5 business days.

It's now official that Beyonce Knowles has a half-brother, as the result of her father's paternity test has been made public. The Houston Chronicle reports that the result of the DNA test shows that Mathew Knowles is the father of Alexsandra Wright's newborn baby, Nixon.

Ms. Wright Alleges that Nixon was conceived during an 18-month fling she had with Mr. Knowles, who is still married to his wife Tina Knowles. As reported in an earlier blog post, Ms. Wright filed a paternity lawsuit against Mr. Knowles last October. At a hearing last month in Los Angeles, Mr. Knowles was ordered to pay $8,200 a month in temporary child support until a paternity test came through. And now that the paternity test shows that Mr. Knowles is the father, it's possible that he'll be ordered to pay even more money through regular child support payments.

There's all sorts of family court drama in Beyonce Knowles' family. For starters, Trans World News reports that Alexsandra Wright claims that she had an 18-month long affair with Beyonce's father, Matthew Knowles. Ms. Wright gave birth to her son last month and believes that Matthew Knowles is the father of her baby. She filed a paternity lawsuit against Mr. Knowles last October and Mr. Knowles has reportedly agreed to submit himself to a paternity test if it is necessary.

If the paternity test shows that Mr. Knowles is the father of the child, then family courts might rule that he is responsible for paying Ms. Wright child support. Global Grind reports that Mr. Knowles has already been ordered to pay all uninsured medical costs for the birth of the child and that a judge has ordered Mr. Knowles to pay some child support for the time being. However, long-term child support payments will be dependent on the results of the paternity test.

Even Texas family law attorneys will probably see this case as being a bit bizarre. A mother of Bedford, Texas is hoping that a grandchild can be culled from her dead son's sperm.

The mother, Missy Evans, was heartbroken when she lost her 21-year-old son Nikolas Evans. According to ABC News, Nikolas died last last year of a subdural hematoma after he was assaulted in a fight outside of an Austin bar.

Now, Ms. Evans is looking for a surrogate mother for her future grandchild. She is then hoping to get a hold of her dead son's sperm through a post-mortem sperm retrieval process. The concept originated in the 1980s, but is still rarely carried out because of its controversial practices.