Hopefully you haven’t filed for an uncontested divorce. No, you don’t want to try and get an uncontested divorce without getting the court to have information about your questioning paternity of the child. I’m assuming from your question, you may want to dispute paternity, have not admitted paternity, and have reason to believe the baby may or may not be yours. An “uncontested” divorce will amount to an admission (or legal presumption) that the child is yours. Here’s a general guide to how paternity is established under Texas law: http://texas lawhelp.org/resource/rescinding-or-challenging-paternity?ref=B4su4. I’ll go over some more details about paternity, but first let’s look at some important issues that tie divorce and paternity together.
 
An “uncontested” divorce in Texas means you and your wife have no disagreement about any issues. For example, most courts won’t even enter a final judgment if the court discovers the wife is pregnant…even if the wife admits the baby is not yours. The usual process is to challenge paternity before a case involving the child (custody) begins. There are also time limits, suggesting you should start the dispute of paternity soon if you had previously acknowledged the child as yours (or within 60 days if you had mistakenly acknowledged paternity). So if the baby has not yet been born, you need to wait for its birth, anyway, to get a final divorce decree. Here’s a place to get forms you need for filing divorce: http://texaslawhelp.org/. You’ll want to file in the county where you lived for the last 90 days (but you must have lived together in Texas for the last six months, too).
 
I understand the advantages to an uncontested filing, from (a) saving attorney fees to (b) avoiding a dispute with the other spouse, and (c) to “getting on” with your life with as little animosity as possible. But the complications of child support and custody make hurrying through an uncontested, quicker divorce an expensive gamble. If you want to try and limit your costs for a contested divorce, or to just wait until after the paternity results, there are options.
 
How To Lower The Costs Of Divorce
 
There’ s a form you can file, to let the court know you have limited ability to pay the $250 filing fee. Ask for an “Affidavit of Inability to Pay Costs.”
 
If you and your wife have an agreement in place about dividing your property and the grounds for divorce or any alimony are not disputed, you can also ask a lawyer to help you focus only on the contested area…establishment of paternity. Even if your wife said you were not the father, you should have a lawyer help with paternity issues. There are many cases where a mother had presumably agreed not to pursue support, but she changed her mind, or the state itself chose to seek payments from the “apparent” or putative father. To ask a lawyer to handle only the paternity case, you can ask if the lawyer “unbundles” his fees, to charge only for what he helps you do.
 
You may also be eligible for low cost help: http://www.lanwt.org/, or, if you are a veteran http://www.texasbar.com/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Can_t_Afford_a_Lawyer_.
 
Paternity Issues in Texas
 
There have been many court cases where the father knew he was not the biological father, but still wanted to be the “legal father.” In at least one case, the mother later tried to remove the legal father’s status: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/fl-district-court-of-appeal/1623119.html. The case you will be more interested is how a court will order a blood test in deciding paternity…http://caselaw.findlaw.com/tx-court-of-appeals/1323380.html. It’s important you make no statements “admitting” paternity. Here’s another case, discussing the many years that can pass for someone to finally be proven the biological father (and thus liable for paying back support): http://caselaw. findlaw.com/fl-district-court-of-appeal/1623119.html. The last case is certainly a financial motivation to get this matter settled sooner rather than later.