Galveston County Paternity Attorney

Galveston Paternity Lawyer Serving Galveston County

Fathers will often play an important role in their children's lives, although these roles can sometimes vary depending on the relationship between a child's parents, a father's level of involvement in raising children, and other factors. However, regardless of the situation, parents and children can benefit by ensuring that both the mother and father are recognized as legal parents of a child. In some cases, parents may need to take action to establish paternity. This may allow the father to share in child custody and visitation, and it will ensure that the child will be able to receive child support along with other benefits.

At Daniel R. Bacalis, P.C., we understand the importance of strong parent-child relationships, and we are dedicated to helping our clients resolve the legal issues that affect their families. We can help fathers establish paternity to ensure that they will be able to protect their parental rights, and we can also help mothers recognize a child's father as a legal parent to ensure that the child will have the necessary financial support. We can also help address related issues, including resolving disputes over child custody, addressing concerns about domestic violence, and handling other family law matters.

When Does Paternity Need to Be Legally Established?

The Texas Family Code details how parent-child relationships may be established. There are some situations where a father will be presumed to be a child's parent, including when a man is legally married to the mother at the time the child is born or when a couple had previously been married and the birth of the child too place within the first 300 days after their marriage ended (including through divorce, a declaration of invalidity, annulment, or death). Paternity will also be presumed if a father lived in the same home as a child for the first two years of the child's life and represented himself to others as the child's father.

In cases where paternity is not presumed, such as when a child's parents are unmarried, steps may need to be taken to establish paternity. The simplest way of doing so is for the mother and father to sign an acknowledgment of paternity and file this document with the applicable family court. While signing this form is usually straightforward, it may be more complicated in situations where there is a presumed father. In these cases, the presumed father will need to sign and submit a denial of paternity form. For example, if a mother is married, but she knows that man other than her husband is the biological father of her child, the husband will need to submit a denial of paternity, and the mother and the biological father can sign an acknowledgment of paternity. These two forms can be submitted either together or separately.

If one or both parents are unwilling to voluntarily acknowledge paternity, or if either party is uncertain about the identity of a child's biological father, the mother, the presumed father, the alleged biological father, or other parties may file a petition to adjudicate paternity in family court. In these cases, a judge will usually order the parties to undergo DNA testing. If these tests determine that there is a 99 percent probability of paternity, the father will be recognized as the child's legal parent.

Contact Our Brazoria County Paternity Lawyer

Establishing paternity can provide a number of benefits. Aside from establishing child custody and child support arrangements, a legal relationship between a father and child may allow the child to access information about their family medical history, and the child will have the right to inherit property from their father and receive certain types of benefits, such as medical insurance coverage, Social Security, and veteran's benefits. Daniel R. Bacalis, P.C. works to help families address issues related to paternity and ensure that children's rights and best interests will be protected in these cases. To schedule a free consultation and get legal help with these issues, contact our office at 409-392-1511. We provide representation in paternity cases and other family law matters in La Marque, Brazoria County, Hitchcock, Galveston, Dickinson, League City, Texas City, and Galveston County.