Mesa Paternity Lawyer

Need To Establish Your Rights As A Father In Arizona?

If you believe that you have fathered a child, but are not listed as a parent on the birth certificate because the child was born out of wedlock or was born unbeknownst to you, you can establish your rights as a father by filing for paternity.

According to the Arizona Department of Economic Security, paternity means the condition of being a father. If you are able to establish paternity, you will be able to enforce your parental rights. This includes custody of the child, visitation rights, rights to include the child in your will, rights to support the child financially and more. This can also be a benefit for the mother of the child, who may be interested in seeking child support from you.

Ways to Establish Paternity

There are several ways in which a father can establish paternity. The easiest way is with a Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity. This is a document which can be signed by both the father and mother and filed with the court or another administrative agency. This is a relatively simple process that works best for couples that are both in agreement regarding the paternity.

Here are some of the other ways in which you can establish paternity:

• Parents can come to the Division of Child Support Services and open a case to establish paternity. The parents will need to fill out and sign a Voluntary Affidavit Acknowledging Paternity and file this by the Division of Child Support Services through the Hospital Paternity Program.
• Parents can request genetic testing at the Division of Child Support Services office. The DCSS will submit the test results along with a Request for an Order of Paternity to the court. A copy of that Order of Paternity is then sent to the parents confirming or denying the relationship.
• If one party contests the paternity case, the case can be referred to an Assistant Attorney General's Office for a court hearing to establish paternity.

Benefits of Establishing Paternity

For the father, the benefits of establishing paternity include:

• Visitation rights
• Possible custody rights
• The ability to maintain a relationship with your child
• The child will have automatic inheritance rights
• Your child will be confident in the identity of his or her father

For the mother, the benefits of paternity include:

• Child support paid by the father
• Possible shared custody
• Allowing the child to have a relationship with his or her father

If you want more information about paternity cases, or if you would like to establish paternity, don't hesitate to contact our office to speak with a Mesa divorce attorney at Liszewski Law Group, PLLC today!