Unfortunately, many divorce proceedings are contentious, especially when it comes to establishing child custody and visitation rights. Doubts can be raised about a child’s paternity in efforts to avoid child support payments or to keep a parent from gaining custody of the child. If the paternity of your child is being questioned, here are the rules for establishing paternity in Suffolk County, NY.
Establishing Paternity by Affidavit
The legal paternity of a child can be established when the child is born by filling out an affidavit at the hospital. An affidavit may be used when:
- The mother was unmarried when she conceived or when the baby was born.
- No other men could be the father.
- Both the mother and the named father sign the affidavit stating the man fathered the child.
An affidavit cannot be filled out if the mother is or was married when the baby was conceived or born because the husband or former husband would be legally considered the father. A family court lawyer in Suffolk County, NY, can use the affidavit as evidence of paternity in divorce proceedings to help establish visitation rights or ask for support payments.
Genetic Testing for Paternity
If you want to establish legal paternity of a child conceived or born by the mother when she was married, you can have genetic marker testing done. You may need to pay for the testing yourself, but the results are almost 100% accurate. If another man is listed on the child’s birth certificate and the testing proves that you’re the father, a family court lawyer should be able to get the birth certificate changed.
Even after paternity is established, there still may be issues regarding your child to settle during a divorce. Click here to find out about retaining a family court lawyer to represent you in court during child paternity cases.
