Establishing Paternity

Allison Butts-Walley

My name is Allison Walley and I am the associate attorney here, at Gilmore Law Firm. We’re going to talk about establishing paternity. So in cases involving children where the parties are not married prior to the child being born, a father has to establish paternity regardless of whether he’s listed on the birth certificate or not. That father has no legal right to the minor child until paternity has been established.

So what does this mean for the father? That means that he will have to petition the court to establish paternity. Typically, you either do this through a DNA test or the mother will consent to paternity. Once paternity has been established, the issues like child support and visitation or custodial time will be determined or agreed upon by the parties.

However, until that takes place, a father has no legal right to visitation time or custodial periods with the child is simply at will of what the mother is willing to allow the father have. Paternity actions only apply to children who are born out of wedlock, or to parties who are not married at the time of the birth of the minor child.

But if you have any questions regarding establishing paternity, please give us a call. With the Gilmore Law Firm. We’re always more than happy to help.