Ending a parent-child relationship based on genetic testing
Texas law allows a man who signed an acknowledgment of paternity, or was adjudicated a child’s father, to petition the court to end that parent-child relationship if genetic testing later shows he isn’t the child’s biological father. This applies when he mistakenly believed he was the father due to a misrepresentation at the time.
A few important limits: this option isn’t available to adoptive fathers, men who consented to assisted reproduction, or intended fathers under a court-approved gestational agreement. The petition generally must be filed within one year of learning you’re not the biological father, and if the court grants termination, it ends future child support — but it doesn’t erase support that already accrued, or the interest on any back-owed support. A man in this situation can also ask the court to keep some rights of access to the child even after the legal parent-child relationship ends.
This is a fact-specific, deadline-driven process — talk to a family-law attorney as soon as you suspect you may not be the biological father.