Paternity

The law in Florida is clear, when a woman is married and she gives birth, the law presumes the child’s father is the mother’s husband, and therefore the child would be presumed to be the legal and biological child of both parents.

However, when the woman is unmarried at the time of the child’s birth, a process of establishing paternity must be started, either voluntarily or through a court order. When a child is born out of wedlock (not married), the mother automatically has all the legal rights to the child and the biological father is first considered to be a “putative father”. If a putative father desires legal rights over of his child, the establishment of paternity must be started.

Florida Statute 409.256(1)(g), Florida Statutes, defines a “Putative father” as an individual who is or may be the biological father of a child whose paternity has not been established and whose mother was unmarried when the child was conceived and born.

Establishing paternity is important because the putative father may want to establish a permanent relationship with the child and have a loving bond forever. The father may be able to assist the mother by providing financial resources, such as child support, health insurance, and life insurance. Fathers may have other benefits from their employment that can assist the best interest of the child and the child would also be entitled to certain inheritance rights.

In many cases, men want to remain an active part of their child’s life and putative fathers may need a paternity test as the foundation for additional court orders such as Parental Responsibility and Timesharing. The father may want joint decision-making authority with the mother or share in extracurricular activities with the mother. This means that the father and mother have an equal voice in decisions concerning the child’s health care, education, and religious upbringing among other major issues. Unfortunately, a putative father cannot obtain theses order without establishing his paternity first.