Paulussen v. Herion

Background

In 1980 a mother, Barbara Paulussen, filed a paternity and child support petition on behalf of her seven-year-old daughter. She said George Herion was the child’s natural father and that he stopped contributing to her support in April 1975. At that time Pennsylvania law barred most paternity suits brought more than six years after birth or more than two years after the father’s last voluntary support or written acknowledgment. The state courts upheld that time limit and denied relief to the mother while this case was pending before this Court.

Reasoning

While the appeal was pending, Pennsylvania changed its law on October 30, 1985, to allow a child born out of wedlock to start a paternity action at any time within 18 years of birth. The father now says he accepts the new 18-year limit and would be responsible for support from the date paternity is established, but he argues he should not have to pay support retroactively back to the original 1980 filing. The Supreme Court said it could not be sure how Pennsylvania courts will interpret the new 18-year rule or whether they would require payments dating back to the first petition. Because that state-law question matters to the outcome, the Court declined to decide the federal constitutional issue and instead vacated the lower judgment and sent the case back for the state courts to sort out the effect of the new law.

Real world impact

State courts will now determine whether the expanded 18-year deadline revives older support claims or requires back payments. The federal constitutional challenge to the old six-year limit was left undecided. This decision pauses a final federal ruling and lets Pennsylvania clarify how its new law applies to earlier filings.