A father is a person who is married/not married to a woman who then conceived and delivered a child. The father has rights to decide about his child’s welfare especially if he is both the biological and the legal Father. When it comes to legal implications regarding support of the child, legal paternity must be established.
To be a legal father is far more than being the biological father of the child. A legal father can be established by marriage, adoption, legitimization or court order. As it should be that the biological father and the legal father are one and the same, there are many cases that the legal father is not the biological father of the child.
A man can be a legal father regardless of who the biological father is when he decides to marry a woman before he gives birth. Same as if he marries a woman after the birth of the child, he can establish his legal paternity by processing a legitimization paper for the child.
Once a paternity is established it is the responsibility of the legal father to provide for the child, supporting his/her financial needs: physical, emotional and mental. He has the responsibility to make sure of the well-being of the child. A legally established father has all the right to make an equal decision with the mother, whether they are both married or not. If in cases that the father denies responsibility over the child, he still can be established as a father by court order through DNA test. This process is the easiest and convenient to both parties but in this process, the father will be denied by court to seek visitation rights and other parenting rights. This process can be used by the mother of the child in order to collect child support.
In the State of Florida, the husband is the father of a child born by his wife. If the child was born by a single mother, paternity can be established by the father in the hospital by having his name on the birth certificate as the father voluntarily.
A voluntary acknowledgement paternity is needed to be filled up and should be processed in Florida Department of Child support Services. It is both for financial and emotional health of the child that will give you successful paternity resolution. Establishing your paternity legally can give you rights in visitation and in deciding what maybe the best for them, whether in health and education.
If you are a father not married to the mother of the child and you are seeking to have visitation rights and a legal parenting rights our law firm and paternity attorney is expert in giving you advice in legal matters as we know how important it is for a child to have both parents by their side and also we can handle this matter in a sensitive way bringing peace not confusion to both of the parents.
Once you become a legal father you give the child the right for financial support, insurance benefit, government support in case of disability and also the child has the legal right to the estate of the legal father.
Need help in establishing paternity of a child’s father? For a sensitive and complicated process such as this, you can contact Marquez-Kelly at 239-214-0403 and message the office for a free half-hour Consultation. You can also message their website here https://www.marquezkellylaw.com/contact-us/. Service Areas include Fort Myers and Cape Coral ,Florida