Expert: Michael Troy - 3/18/2007

Question
My best friend has just 22 (female) and she has had a child from a 16 yr old (male).  When she was dating the male he lied to her about his age, he claimed he was 18 yrs old, which he actually looks that age.  Well when she was about 4 months pregnant she found out from several of his friends that he was still a Junior in high school. She has a 3 month old healthy baby girl and the father knows about the child and he wants nothing to do with the baby.  She wants to file for child support but is afraid of getting charged with statutory rape.  What would you advice?  Please help me so I could help her. Thanx

Answer
Hello,

Your friend is in a difficult situation.  I would not advise her to what is effectively admitting to a crime in an attempt to get support.  Since the father is only 16 and probably does not have a job, she is not going to get much in the way of support anyway.  I cannot provide specific legal advice here, but one consideration is determing what the statute of limitations is for statutory rape, and not file for support until after that time has passed.

I hope this helps!
- Mike