PART I-B. ESTABLISHMENT OF CHILD SUPPORT

IN PATERNITY PROCEEDING

§399. Establishment of child support; interim order during proceeding; final order following judgment of paternity

A. In a proceeding for the determination of paternity and upon motion of any party, the court presiding over the paternity issue shall issue an order of interim child support if there is clear and convincing evidence of paternity on the basis of genetic testing or other evidence susceptible of independent verification or corroboration.

B. If no interim child support was ordered pursuant to Subsection A of this Section, a judgment for final child support rendered against a defendant who has acknowledged paternity after a paternity suit has been filed or has been adjudged in a suit to establish paternity to be the parent of the child for whom support is ordered shall be effective from the date on which the paternity suit was filed. In the event the court finds good cause for not making the award retroactive to the date of the filing of the paternity suit, the court may make the award retroactive to a date subsequent to the filing of the paternity suit, but in no event shall the award be fixed later than the date of the rendition of the paternity judgment. Any monetary support provided by the judgment debtor, from the date the petition for support is filed to the date the final support order is issued to or on behalf of the person for whom support is ordered, may be credited to the judgment debtor against the amount of the judgment.

Acts 1985, No. 376, §1; Acts 1997, No. 1247, §1, eff. July 1, 1997.