A child is considered legitimate when he or she is born from a union of a married man and woman. What happens when the parents are not married? Establishing who the father is of your child legally can be a challenging matter. However, it is important in order for the mother to seek child support and the father to seek child custody or visitation rights.
Paternity deals with the financial liabilities of the father and usually takes the form of child support. In some cases a man might choose to question the paternity of the child. When a man questions paternity, it is most often because they have been named the father of a child and they want to maintain the right to be a part of their child’s life. In some cases, a person is named the father and it turns out he is not the father. When a mother wants to establish paternity, it is the first step towards getting the child support she needs to raise their child.
Today, through DNA testing, it is possible to determine almost 100% accuracy if the man is the father. If you are questioning whether or not you are the father of a child and you are not certain you are, contact an experienced Orange County Family Law attorney who knows how to overcome these challenges in order to help you obtain the outcome that meets your needs.
