Establishing the paternity of a child may sometimes be necessary for issues relating to father's rights, proving or disproving the biological fatherhood of a child, inheritance issues, and potential family medical history issues relating to a child.
A paternity test may be conducted voluntarily, or by order of the court.
Those who may legally request a paternity test regarding a child's biological father include:
Ronald L Sims, P.A., represents the legal rights and goals of those involved in child paternity, divorce, or other family law issues or disputes in Orlando and the Central Florida area. For a confidential legal consultation, please call 407.843.5885.
In an uncontested paternity action, men are usually very confident that they are the biological father of the child, or they wish to maintain a legal relationship with the child whether or not they are the father, and thus either initiate paternity actions or consent to the entry of a paternity order.
A contested paternity action may arise either as private actions, or are brought by the state. A private action for paternity is typically serves the purpose of securing child support payments from the father, or parenting time with the child.
When the mother applies for state assistance, the State will typically commence a paternity action through the prosecutor's office in an effort to obtain full or partial reimbursement of any grant of aid for the child from the child's biological father.
An individual who is tentatively identified or assumed to be the child's father in paternity litigation is referred to as the "putatitive father", which means they are "generally regarded as the biological father" unless proven otherwise through a paternity test.
If you have questions, concerns, or legal needs regarding child paternity, divorce, or other family law issues, we urge you to seek the legal advice of experienced legal counsel.