§ 7640 Court Costs In Paternity Cases

• •The court can make parents or others pay for lawyer fees, expert costs, and other expenses in a case about a child.
• •The court decides who pays how much and when.
• •The government doesn’t have to pay these costs.
• •The court uses rules from other sections (2032 and 7605) to decide what’s fair.

A mom and dad are fighting in court over who should take care of their kid. They need a lawyer, a doctor to do a DNA test, and a guardian for the child.

The judge can say the mom pays 60% of the costs and the dad pays 40%, depending on who can afford it. The government won’t pay anything.