Custody

What you need to know

In parentage cases, also called “paternity cases,” the court makes orders that say who the child’s legal parents are.

If parents are married when a child is born, there is usually no question about parentage. The law assumes that the husband is the father and the wife is the mother, so paternity is automatically established in most cases.

But for unmarried parents, parentage of their children needs to be established legally. So even if a father can prove he is the biological father of a child, if he was never married to the mother, he does not legally have any rights or responsibilities for the child.

Why establishing parentage is necessary

• You can ask a judge for child support or custody and visitation orders as part of a case that establishes the child’s parentage.
• If a person does not admit that the are the parent, the court may order the alleged father, mother, and child to submit to genetic testing.
• You will be able to request custody and visitation orders from the court so that you can legally visit with your child.
• Once a person is established as the father or mother of a child, he or she also will be responsible for paying child support and will have to pay half of the uninsured health-care costs for the children and half of the child-care costs that result from the custodial parent getting or having a job or going to school.
• Legal documentation identifying both parents
• Having the names of both parents on the child’s birth certificate;
• Access to family medical records and history;
• Health and life insurance coverage from either parent;
• The right to inherit from either parent; and