Child paternity is an important process which aids in various legal situations, such as:
- Provide the child with a needed identity, or to verify a child's identity;
- Helping to establish a health history of both the Mother and Father for medical care and treatment of the child;
- Establishing or disproving paternity for the purpose of determining whether child support is owed;
- It can allow the child to be covered by health insurance, social security, inheritance and veteran's benefits;
- Paternity also may allow the parties involved to seek public assistance where they qualify;
- Establishing paternity may entitle a child by succession or inheritance to receive property from his or her biological father.
In child support cases, before support can be ordered or collected, the paternity of the child must be proven in a court of law, unless the father voluntarily admits paternity. Proof of paternity is constituted either by voluntary signature, a judge's decision, or the fact that the mother was married to the man either before or after the child is born.
If a man refuses to admit to fathering a child and the mother decides to take him to court, it is advised that she acquire the services of a child paternity attorney to protect both her legal rights and the rights of the child or children which are involved.
As a law firm providing child paternity, divorce, and family law legal services, we are prepared to represent you in even the most difficult of legal challenges you may be facing. Our law firm knows how to apply the law to your specific legal needs and goals. When you are involved in a child paternity, divorce, or other family law dispute... we are here to help you. Call 407.344.3400 to schedule a confidential consultation.
Every child has the right to be supported by both parents. When a child's paternity is being questioned by the biological father, paternity proceedings are essential to establish, as a matter of legal record, the child's biological father in order to seek child support.
Court ordered paternity tests may be sought by either the mother or male who is in doubt of, or contesting the fact that a child is their biological offspring, or to prove that the child is indeed his.