In Texas, when a child is born to an unmarried woman, there are two ways to establish paternity. The first is easy: the father voluntarily signs an “Acknowledgement of Paternity” form and files the document with the state’s Vital Statistics Unit so that his name will be on the baby’s birth certificate. The second way is for either parent to file a suit to establish paternity. Often, it is necessary for a mother who is seeking financial assistance or other benefits from the state, or is pursuing paternal child support, to report the name of the child’s father. The state will require a legal determination that the person listed by the mother, indeed, is the child’s father. In some cases, a man may initiate the paternity suit himself so that he may gain the privileges of visitation or custody of a child that he believes is his.
In a typical paternity hearing, the court asks a man if he admits to being the child’s father. If he answers “yes,” the court may require him to pay child support. If he denies being the father, the court can order that he take a DNA test that will prove or rule out his biological relationship to the child. If a man fails to appear in court for a paternity hearing, a ruling may declare him the father by default and order him to pay child support. A man or a woman in a paternity suit will benefit from the advice of a qualified family law attorney. Call experienced paternity suit lawyer Stephanie Foster at 817-277-2805, if you are a man served with an action to establish paternity. The Foster Law Firm is available to advise you, too, if you are a mother seeking to establish parentage and child support for your child. Stephanie Foster is an experienced paternity suit lawyer serving Arlington, Southlake, Keller, Fort Worth, Mansfield, Colleyville, Hurst, Euless, Bedford and other Tarrant County cities.