Some men automatically become fathers after the birth of a child. Married men have a legal presumption of paternity under state law. When their wives give birth, the inclusion of the husband’s name on the birth certificate is automatic in most cases.
Unmarried fathers potentially have the same basic legal rights as married fathers and mothers do. However, they may need to make a little bit more of an effort to assert those rights. Unmarried fathers typically have to establish paternity. They can do so at the hospital by cooperating with the mother.
Unmarried fathers can also fill out a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity after the child’s birth. If the mother refuses to cooperate, can the father still legally establish paternity?
The courts can order testing
There are a variety of scenarios in which a mother may choose not to acknowledge a father. She may be unsure of the actual identity of the child’s biological father. She may have a strained relationship with the man seeking to establish paternity. She may have been in another relationship at the time of the child’s birth and may worry about people discovering infidelity.
Any of those scenarios and many others could motivate a mother to refuse to acknowledge a man’s paternity. A voluntary acknowledgment of paternity is only possible when both parents agree to fill out the paperwork together. If the mother does not acknowledge the father and refuses to sign state documents, then the father’s only option for establishing paternity may be to turn to the state.
The courts can potentially order genetic testing to affirm a child’s parentage. The mother of the child usually does not have the right to decline genetic testing. It is not a source of financial hardship and is a non-invasive test. So long as the test does show that the man is the biological father of the child, he can add his name to the birth certificate of his child after the genetic test. He may also be able to go to family court in pursuit of shared parental rights and responsibilities.
Learning more about how the state handles complex family law matters, including contentious paternity cases, can help parents make use of their legal rights. Unmarried fathers typically have the right to establish paternity regardless of their relationships with the mothers of their children.
