Establishing or Challenging Paternity
Paternity is about establishing the identity of a child’s father for purposes of having the father contribute to the support of the child and/or establish parental rights. In the majority of cases, the father’s identity is not at issue especially if the parents are married to one another. If married, the law presumes the husband is the child’s father, and he has a legal obligation toward the child born of the wife.
But most paternity suits involve non-married persons and are brought by the mother against a person she alleges is her child’s father. In these circumstances, paternity is established...