Paternity Law

The ABA Center on Children and the Law, a program of the Young Lawyers Division, aims to improve children's lives through advances in law, justice, knowledge, practice and public policy. Our areas of expertise include child abuse and neglect, child welfare and protective services system enhancement, foster care, family preservation, termination of parental rights, parental substance abuse, adolescent health, and domestic violence.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is responsible for federal programs that promote the economic and social well-being of families, children, individuals, and communities.

As an AABB-accredited laboratory, we perform paternity tests and other DNA tests using a Chain of Custody documentation process to ensure results will be legally defensible, in case the results will be used in courts and other government agencies. This process proves and satisfies the following legal requirements: * Samples are collected by an impartial third party, such as a clinic or laboratory. * The individuals tested are positively identified (i.e. They present a government-issued ID, and they are photographed and fingerprinted for records.). * The samples are carefully tracked and matched to each test participant throughout the entire DNA testing process.

Paternity testing is DNA analysis to determine whether or not a given man is the biological father of a given child. There are many different reasons people want to have a paternity test. Sometimes alleged fathers are told many years later that a previous relationship resulted in the birth of a child, and they want to make sure they are actually the biological father.

The National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse (NRFC) is a service of the Administration for Children and Families' (ACF) Office of Family Assistance (OFA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NRFC captures information about policies, priorities, trends, research findings, promising practices, and emerging lessons from the field and helps key audiences translate that knowledge into policies and practices that make a difference for fathers, children, families, and communities.

The Clearinghouse is committed to providing access to a comprehensive listing of resources and publications related to Responsible Fatherhood. As such, some of the documents in our collection represent historical perspective. Users should make a note of the date of publication for their selected resources. These results may include documents distributed by the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse (NRFC) that are produced by the NRFC or other organizations.

English and U.S. Common Law have recognized the importance of establishing the paternity of children. In the United States, a child born outside a legal marriage relationship will lose Child Support and inheritance rights if the fatherhood of the child is not legally established. The father may voluntarily acknowledge paternity in a legal document filed with a court or may agree to have his name listed as the father on the child's birth certificate. If the man disputes fatherhood, the mother or the state government may initiate a legal proceeding, known as a paternity action, to adjudicate fatherhood.

In law, paternity is the legal acknowledgment of the parental relationship between a man and a child usually based on several factors. At common law, a child born to the wife during a marriage is the husband's child under the "presumption of legitimacy", and the husband is assigned complete rights, duties and obligations as to the child. The presumption, however, can be rebutted by evidence to the contrary, at least prior to a formal court ruling involving the putative paternity (often this is a decree of divorce, annulment, or legal separation). Jurisdictions differ widely on when a judgment establishing paternity or a support obligation based on the presumption can be set aside on the grounds that the husband was not in fact the father.

The United States has no federal laws requiring companies to grant paid paternity leave to new fathers. As of June 2008, only California had laws in place granting paid paternity leave (called family leave), though laws have been proposed in several other states. Additionally, some progressive companies offer paid leave to both mothers and fathers following the birth or adoption of a new child. But in most cases, new fathers will have to take unpaid paternity leave.

If there is a question on who the father is, paternity testing should be done as soon as possible. Most states have laws that require an unmarried couple to fill out an Acknowledgment of Paternity (AOP) form at the hospital to legally establish who the father. If the couple is unmarried and the mother has not been married in the last 300 days, then no father will be listed on the birth certificate until this legally binding form is filled out. The AOP is sent to the states Bureau of Vital statistics, is recorded, and the father listed becomes the legal father.

Under early common law, a child born out of wedlock was considered filius nullius -- the child of no one. If paternity was established at all, the parents suffered the indignities of criminal “bastardy” proceedings, and the child had few legal rights. Perhaps prodded by a soaring increase in out-of-wedlock births, society has begun to recognize the social and fiscal costs of ignoring these children. Starting in 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a series of cases that precluded discrimination against this population of children, by States or the Federal Government, without a compelling State interest.

We, the members of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children, hereby dedicate ourselves and our efforts to the creation of a family law system, legislative system, and public awareness which promotes equal rights for ALL parties affected by divorce, and the breakup of a family or establishment of paternity. It is our belief through our involvement and dedication, we can have a positive effect on the emotional and psychological well-being of children.

Paternity testing is a major US industry. Between 1970 and 1996, the number of divorced persons has more than quadrupled, from 4.3 million to 18.3 million according to a 1998 report by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau. Hundreds of thousands of paternity tests are performed each year.

We're a non-profit organization that is getting to the root of the issues facing your community by educating and engaging dads. Today, one out of every three children goes to bed each night without their biological father in the home. Ensuring that more children grow up with involved, responsible, and committed fathers is the best way to ensure that every child has a happy and secure childhood.

Paternity Matters was formed by the Office of Recovery Services in 2005 to provide education about the paternity establishment process in Utah. Paternity Matters focuses on three main objectives: * Provide training, supplies and support to individuals who work with unwed parents on the Voluntary Declaration of Paternity process in hospitals. * Educate unwed parents about paternity establishment, methods of establishment, and benefits to the parents and children.

This site offers quick and easy access to expert-quality publications that offer help and guidance for every child custody topic. Every title is STATE-SENSITIVE. Through our easy and confidential ordering system, we can deliver these publications to your computer in just a few minutes where they will be available 24 hours a day for as long as you choose.

Articles written by attorneys and experts worldwide discussing legal aspects related to Family Law including: adoption, alimony, child support and custody, child visitation, collaborative law, divorce, domestic violence, elder law, juvenile crime, juvenile law, juvenile probation, paternity, pre-nuptial agreement, separation.