Establishing paternity is essential for unmarried couples

Flicker, Kerin, Kruger & Bissada LLP

It’s essential that unmarried parents do all they can to establish who a child’s biological parents are. Of course, it’s usually easy to determine the mother. On the other hand, determining the father may not be as simple.

If a mother isn’t sure of who the father of her child is or the father doesn’t know if he is actually the biological parent, then it’s a good choice to go through paternity testing. Paternity testing is simple and won’t hurt you or your child.

Children don’t have legal fathers until parentage is established when their parents are unmarried

Since that’s the case, no father will have the full rights and responsibilities of being a parent until they establish parentage. It’s necessary to establish parentage before visitation, child support or custody orders can be established.

If a father does not want to admit that he is the parent or doesn’t feel confident that he is, the court can order the couple and their child to have genetic testing to prove their relationship.

There are times when a man will be assumed to be and treated as the father of a child, like when he is married to the mother when the child is conceived or born, if he attempts to marry the mother, and the child was born or conceived during the marriage or if he openly acts as if the child is his own and welcomes them into his home.

Establishing parentage will give you the legal rights you want to have with your child. Our site has more on what you can do to legally establish your paternity.

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