If you are a mother reading this blog post and are questioning who your childβs biological father is, you have likely thought more than once about how much you wish you did not have to deal with this subject. I get it. As a father and a family law attorney, I know exactly what it means to want to do what is best for your child. I also know how frustrating it can be to have to face down a legal system that doesnβt exactly make it easy for you to get things done. You may know that you need to establish the paternity of your child, but you have no clue where to begin.
Well, coming to this blog is a significant first step. Letβs spend some time today talking about how to establish the paternity of your child and why it is a good idea to do so. Along the way, I will share with you some of the nitty-gritty, ground-level steps that you will need to take care of to move on to the next phase of your life. Whether you are enthusiastic about including the probable father of your child in their life or are more reluctant to do so, establishing paternity is one of the most important things you can do your childβs, your own, and the fatherβs lives.
An Acknowledgment of Paternity and its impact on your case
If you have yet to give birth or have recently done so, it is not too late to sign an Acknowledgment of Paternity that states which the father of your child is. Keep in mind that you are stating under oath that a man is the father of your child. Do not sign the form unless you doubt who the father is. Speculating or guessing can put you, your child, and other people into a messy situation that will be difficult to sort things out of.
However, an Acknowledgment of Paternity can be obtained from the hospital after or before giving birth or even from your local social services office. You can fill out the form and send it to Austin to be filed in the Bureau of Vital Statistics. However, keep in mind that unless the man whose paternity you are also acknowledging ships in an Acknowledgment, your form has no legal effect. It takes two of these forms to establish paternity for a child.
You will run into a problem if the man you are alleging paternity in denies that he is the father. A Denial of Paternity can also be filed with the state when a man denies that he is a childβs father and wishes to do so formally. In that case, you and he are at a standoff. Unless you move forward with a paternity lawsuit, there will be no man established as your childβs father.
Paternity Lawsuits in Texas
A paternity lawsuit seeks to determine the parentage of a child in Texas. Other issues like custody, possession, child support, etc., can also be sorted out within a paternity lawsuit. Still, the primary goal of one of these suits is to determine who the legal father of a child is. Genetic testing is the method used to establish paternity and must be done after birth.
A question that I receive from the potential father of a child is how much time he will spend with his child after paternity is established. After having represented many fathers in all sorts of family lawsuits, I have figured out that our culture has created a sense in fathers that their rights are not equal to those of a mother. This is simply not true. Just because you needed a paternity test to establish that you are the legal father to a child does not mean that you have any less of a right to see your child and play a role in raising that child.
In the future, if the mother to your child does not allow you to see your child, it will be necessary for you to file an enforcement lawsuit against her to have the court become aware of what is going on. Keep in mind that you cannot call the police if your childβs mother refuses to allow visitation to occur. You can do that, but they will likely tell you that this is a civil matter and that they cannot do anything. Until then, you will need to document the times and dates you were denied visitation.
Do not wait to file a paternity lawsuit if you believe that you are the father of a child.
You will not be granted paternity rights to a child that is biologically yours unless you do something about it. Note that plenty of men are biological fathers to children and have zero legal rights to raise that child. The main reason for this problem is that fathers did not establish paternity during the early years of that childβs life. If you do not want that to be your reality, it will behoove you to speak to an attorney about establishing paternity rights for yourself early rather than waiting until later to do so.
On the other hand, if you are not the father of a child and a mother is trying to have you named as that childβs parent, it is worthwhile to know that a mother can go after child support for that child until two years after that child turns 18. Do not assume that you cannot be held responsible for retroactive child support just because the child is no longer legal. It is not unheard of for a man to be established as the legal father of a child when the child is 18 or 19 years old. The child is an adult, but you still have to pay back child support for the years that consent was not being paid. This can happen whether or not you are the biological father or not.
What happens after your family law case has ended?
So far, we have been discussing the steps inherent in family law cases in general. It is time to discuss what happens after a family law case has concluded. To this point so much of your energy will have been spent on preparing for your case and then working towards achieving whatever goals you have set out for yourself. Those goals are as diverse as the people who initiate family lawsuits, so if you are still wondering about your case and what your goals should be, it is a worthwhile idea to sit down with one of our attorneys to talk more about that.
Otherwise, once the dust has settled on your family law case, it is time to live life according to whatever orders were created in your case. Life will be a little different for some of you now that your prior court orders have been modified to some extent. For others, your court case may have been a divorce or initial child custody proceeding where you are now living a much different life than you had become accustomed to previously. Whatever your specific circumstances are, it is essential that you work within the orders and abide by what is contained within them.
If you are the parent to a child, those orders that pertain to your child will be in effect until your child either graduate from high school or turns 18- whichever event occurs later. I have had a client whose ex-husband stopped paying child support under the mistaken idea that he was no longer required to because his daughter had turned eighteen in February of her senior year of high school. Remember that he had to pay support through the end of the school year. So, it pays to know exactly what your final orders require of you.
Keep in mind that if your child has special needs, it is probable that your child support orders do not require you to stop paying support when your child graduates from high school. Instead, you are likely ordered to pay child support for a more extended period of time due to your child not being able to go out and earn an income at that time. In many cases, you will be responsible for paying support for the rest of your childβs life. The onus will be on you or your ex-spouse to become the legal guardian of your child after that point if they are unable to care for themselves.
A Texas court cannot force you to pay support to your ex-spouse after the child turns 18 or graduates from high school under typical circumstances. Despite what you may have heard from other people, you cannot be ordered to pay for your childβs college costs against your will. However, it is possible that you could be ordered to pay for college after you have already agreed to do so in mediation or informal settlement negotiations. Once the judge signs the order, you will have to pay for college or face the consequences of an enforcement lawsuit.
One way to avoid the legal responsibility to pay for your childβs college education is not to agree to include it in your divorce decree or other child custody orders. It is good to have the instinct to pay for your childβs college education. If you are in a position where you can do so, it is a blessing for your child. However, you are not obligated to do so. Your child is an adult when they begin college, and your duty to provide for him or she has ceased.
So, if you are not entirely sure that you will be able to pay for their education according to the terms of your final orders, do not agree to that. The judge wonβt force you if the case goes to trial. It is better to plan to pay for their education and spend as much as possible if you cannot pay for the entire cost. This way, you are doing something great for your child and not putting yourself in a potentially risky legal position.
When child support comes to an end
Any wage withholding order distributing money from your paychecks directly should no longer affect your child turns 18 or graduates from high school. However, you may need to go the extra mile to ensure that these payments stop coming at this stage. You can contact your human resources department and show them a birth certificate and high school diploma to prove that that the withholding order does not need to be followed any longer. In rare cases, I have seen parents go to court to get the judge to sign a declaration that officially states that child support payments no longer have to be made. Termination of that child support obligation is necessary. You can contact the Office of the Attorney General, but if payments still are being made after graduation, it is worth your while to contact an attorney.
Appealing, modifying, or enforcing a court order- tomorrowβs blog post topic
In tomorrowβs blog post from the LawOffice of Bryan Fagan, we will discuss what it means to appeal, modify or enforce a prior court order. In the meantime, if you have any questions about the material that we have covered today, please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan. Our licensed family law attorneys offer free of charge consultations six days a week where your questions can be answered and need be addressed directly. Thank you for your time, and we hope you will join us again tomorrow.
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Other Articles you may be interested in:
- Involuntary Termination of Parental Rights in Texas
- Relinquishment and Termination of Parental Rights in Texas
- Terminating Parental Rights in Texas on the Absent Parent
- Voluntarily Relinquishing Your Parental Rights in Texas
- What rights does a father have in Texas?
- Fathersβ Rights: Children Born Out of Wedlock in Texas?
- Mom Versus Dad Who Gets the rights? β Custodial Rights Vs. Non-Custodial Rights in Texas
- Husband Not the Father, what do I do in a Texas Divorce?
- I am not the biological father, but I want to be β Paternity by Estoppel?
- What do I do if I have overpaid child support in Texas?
- Establishing Paternity: The First Step in Texas
- Can I refuse a court-ordered paternity test?
Bryan Fagan, a native of Atascocita, Texas, is a dedicated family law attorney inspired by John Grishamβs βThe Pelican Brief.β He is the first lawyer in his family, which includes two adopted brothers. Bryanβs commitment to family is personal and professional; he cared for his grandmother with Alzheimerβs while completing his degree and attended the South Texas College of Law at night.
Married with three children, Bryanβs personal experiences enrich his understanding of family dynamics, which is central to his legal practice. He specializes in family law, offering innovative and efficient legal services. A certified member of the College of the State Bar of Texas, Bryan is part of an elite group of legal professionals committed to ongoing education and high-level expertise.
His legal practice covers divorce, custody disputes, property disputes, adoption, paternity, and mediation. Bryan is also experienced in drafting marital property agreements. He leads a team dedicated to complex family law cases and protecting families from false CPS allegations.
Based in Houston, Bryan is active in the Houston Family Law Sector of the Houston Bar Association and various family law groups in Texas. His deep understanding of family values and his professional dedication make him a compassionate advocate for families navigating Texas family law.
