Jagger's telephone testimony

Mick Jagger: To testify in New York from a UK court

A New York court has ordered Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger to testify by phone in a paternity hearing next month.

The family court order directs Jagger to testify "by electronic means" on 15 March in the case which will determine whether he is the father of a Brazilian model's son.

The singer will be in the UK at the time, so he will appear in a British court to be sworn in and will testify via an open speaker telephone.

Luciana Morad while pregnant with Lucas

In July 1999, a spokesman for Jagger, 56, said blood tests had shown he was the father of 30-year-old Luciana Morad's son Lucas, who is now nine months old.

The baby was born in New York, and Morad's lawyer, Raoul Felder, said she would be in the city for the court hearing.

He said: "We're gratified that the case is moving forward and at last we'll be able to hear from Mr Jagger."

Child support

If Jagger acknowledges paternity, the court will then decide how much child support he must pay Morad for Lucas.

Felder declined to say how much he would ask for, but said he would ask the court to order Jagger to come to New York for any child support hearings.

If Luciana Morad's case is successful, Lucas will be Jagger's seventh child. He has Karis, 29, by singer Marsha Hunt, 28-year-old socialite Jade by his former wife Bianca, and four children with model Jerry Hall.

Jagger split up with Hall last year after a court ruled their 1990 Hindu marriage in Bali was not valid under English law. The couple remain friends.