Paternity

Paternity lawsuits involve establishing the legal identity of the natural father of a child in cases where the mother and father are not married. In such cases, all aspects of the relationship are legally determined by a court such as paternity, child support, child custody, parental responsibility and child visitation. Oftentimes, if you are in need of child support, the Florida Department of Revenue- Office of Child Support will initiate a paternity and child support action on behalf of your child at the same time in the same lawsuit. However, the Department of Revenue is legally prohibited from representing a mother regarding any parental responsibility (child custody) or time-sharing (child visitation) matter in such cases. So if the State has started a paternity case to collect child support, it will be up to you to request the entry of a Parenting Plan during that lawsuit. On the other hand, if the Department of Revenue is demanding that you pay child support, it may seem as if the State is representing the other parent. In theory the State represents the legal interests of your minor child. But it may not seem that way to you at the time. To ensure that your voice is heard, you should strongly consider consulting with a Sarasota paternity lawyer. We represent parents in efforts to establish paternity as well as non-parents in efforts to challenge paternity. The Court can order payment of back child support in your paternity case. The Court can also order you to reimburse the Mother for her child birth costs, genetic testing, attorney’s fees and expert witness fees. If you are not residing with your child, but are providing him or her some financial support, it is probably to your benefit to judicially establish paternity, child support, and a Parenting Plan sooner rather than later. The main reasons why are that you can limit your future exposure for back child support and you can also ensure that you have access to visitation with your child if your relationship with the other parent deteriorates in the future. Don’t wait until there is a huge fight with the other parent over your child to address these issues. You owe it to your child to have paternity, child custody, child visitation, and child support established by a court of law as soon as possible after your baby is born.