To ensure that children will have the ongoing love and support they need, it may sometimes be necessary to establish legal parent/child relationships. For mothers, this usually will not be necessary, since at the time of a child's birth, the mother will be recognized as the child's parent and listed on the birth certificate. However, a father may not always be officially recognized as a parent, and it may be necessary to establish paternity.
Paternity Establishment When Parents Are Unmarried
There are some cases where the law presumes that a man is a child's father. These include situations where a mother and father are married to each other, as well as cases where parents were formerly married within a short period before a child was born. That is, if a couple got a divorce or had their marriage annulled, or if the marriage ended when the husband died, the man will be presumed to be the father of the mother's child if they were still married at any time during the 300 days before the child's birth.
Paternity may also be presumed if a couple took certain steps recognizing that a man was the child's father. If a couple was married after the child was born, and the husband asserted parenthood, was listed on the child's birth certificate, or made a written commitment to support the child as his own, the man will be presumed to be the father of the child. If an unmarried couple chose to remain unmarried, but they lived together with their child between when the child was born and turned two years old, and the man stated to others that he was the child's father, he will be presumed to be a parent.
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