When a child is born to unmarried adults in the state of Florida, it gives rise to issues regarding legal parentage, custody, visitation and child support.  Relationships do not always work out, but there are many men who value the parent-child relationship and wish to maintain a stable parental relationship with their child.  If a man believes that he is the father of a child born out of wedlock and wishes to establish a parental relationship with the child, he must initiate an action to establish legal paternity.  A paternity action establishes a parent-child relationship creating all of the rights to child custody and visitation, right to be informed about key issues (i.e. school, medical care, etc) and obligations to provide financial support.

There is a fundamental difference between being a biological parent and the legal parent of a minor child in Florida.  A legal parent-child relationship must be established by a court or by written formal consent of the parents.  While inclusion on a birth certificate is evidence of paternity, it does not necessarily create a legal parentage relationship.  Under Florida law, it is presumed that any child born to a woman who is married is a child of the marriage.  This means that the biological father must initiate a paternity action to challenge this presumption and be established as the legal father of the child.  The court may determine that it is in the best interest of the child to establish the husband as the legal parent in this situation.

A paternity action is most commonly initiated by the mother who is seeking to establish a child support obligation for the biological father or by the biological father who is seeking visitation or shared custody (timeshare schedule). Establishing the legal paternity of a child creates all the rights and obligations associated with being a biological parent.  It is often the case that a woman will bring a paternity action to establish child support, but the father will fail to seek custody or visitation orders.  A man who is in this situation should seek legal advice because the paternity action provides an excellent opportunity to obtain formal timeshare arrangements.  If the father does not do so, he may find that he has to come back to court later and ask for a modification when the mother does not cooperate.  Depending on the terms of the judgement in the paternity action, it can be much more difficult to obtain a significant time-share through a modification following the original paternity judgment.

The easiest way to establish paternity is to have both parents consent to paternity by executing a form called an Acknowledgement of Paternity. The impact of the mother’s agreement to seek an order from a court of competent jurisdiction would serve to impact the child’s birth record, listing his name as the father on the child’s birth record.  A mother may refuse to acknowledge the legal father and refuse to sign this form. The next option is to establishing paternity through a paternity action where a judge can establish paternity through a court order. This may require a genetic test as a means to establish the identity of the biological father.

This presents a problem in cases involving an unborn child because not until after the child is born can you prove paternity through DNA testing. If the child has not been born yet but you wish to protect your paternal rights, you must register with the Putative Father Registry and file a notarized claim of paternity. This can be filed at any time prior to the birth of the child but must be filed before the any petition to terminate parental rights is filed.  In other words, if the mother is considering placing the child up for adoption, the person asserting that he is the father must register with the Putative Father Registry before the mother executes consent for adoption.

By filing a paternity action, a man expressly consents to submit to DNA testing for the purposes of establishing paternity in the legal proceeding. Once paternity has been established by the court, the legal father will have parental rights including making decisions regarding the child’s education and medical care as well as the right to seek a court order for custody and visitation.  Once paternity is established, it also also creates the parental obligation to pay for child support.

If you believe that you are the father of a child born out or wedlock, but the mother has denied your rights to access, information and decisionmaking involving the child, you may be able to file a paternity.action.  Similarly, a mother who is faced with a biological father who refuses to acknowledge paternity and provide for the support of his child, may initiate a Florida paternity action.  Call us today and discuss you Florida paternity law questions with one of our Fort Lauderdale family law attorneys.  At Eric N. Klein & Associates, P.A., we may be able to help you. Contact us today at (954) 580-8080 for more information.