A family attorney in Sheboygan WI represents clients in paternity cases. Numerous situations can create the need for legal representation. This lawyer can represent the mother or the father. Lawyers also may represent a man who has believed he was the father but now has learned he is not.
Married and Unmarried Parents
When a woman gives birth while married to a man, the law assumes the man is the father. When an unmarried woman has a baby, she is responsible for establishing paternity with the courts if she wants to receive support payments from the father. Men must cooperate with testing if they receive a court order to do so. Otherwise, they are in contempt of that court order and could be arrested.
DNA testing is not required when the man realizes he is not the father but is still ready to step in and be the child’s parent. The two may love each other and want to be married even though this baby is not his. The couple can have a family attorney in Sheboygan WI file an affidavit with the court verifying paternity. The man’s name is then added to the birth certificate of the child.
The Rights of a Biological Father
This does not stop an effort in the future by the biological father to come forward and demand to establish paternity. If he was never informed about the pregnancy and did not give up his parental rights, the couple now faces the possibility of legal action against them.
Unmarried couples who have a baby also may agree to establish paternity through DNA testing, even if they do not plan to live together. This normally is done if paternity is in question because the mother had more than one sexual partner. Once paternity is determined, they both want the father to be involved in the child’s life. The father is willing to pay child support and to have the youngster covered under his health insurance. They can establish paternity with the courts with the assistance of a family law attorney. Click here to learn details of one particular family law firm.
