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Father's Rights Paternity Lawyer
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Father's Rights Paternity Attorney to Establish or Revoke Paternity
Use an Attorney to Establish Paternity
Paternity of a child has a life long impact for the father and child. For father's without legal status, you are at the mercy of the mother if you want to spend time with your child. You can establish your legal rights even if the mother refuses to acknowledge your as the father. An attorney can help with this process to achieve your goal of full legal rights to your child.
Common Situations for Paternity Lawsuits
A father may seek to establish paternity when he and the mother are not married. If the mother refuses to acknowledge him as the father, he can file a lawsuit. In other cases, the mother seeks to establish a man as the father to pursue child support.
Revoking Paternity After Being Named the Father
If a man has incorrectly signed the affidavit of parentage, he may be able to revoke the claim. There is a window of time of 3 years from birth or 1 year after signing the affidavit, whichever happens later. This typically occurs when the mother misinforms the man of his parentage and he later wishes to revoke his legal status after the mother locks him out of the child's life.
Avoid Expensive Litigation
Many people seek to understand the cost of paternity to avoid cases that cost thousands of dollars of attorney fees. Paternity lawyer Andrew Steiger can customize a plan for you to pursue your legal rights in a paternity lawsuit.
Paternity in Michigan
Paternity to Protect Father's Rights
When parents of a newborn baby are not married, the father does not automatically have rights to the child. Commonly referred to as having a baby out of wedlock, the mother has custody rights until the father establishes his paternity rights.
When the mother and father agree, the two can sign an affidavit of parentage at the hospital to acknowledge the father of the child. The father's name is placed on the birth certificate and this is conclusive for establishing him as the father.
If the mother or father refuse to sign that affidavit to acknowledge paternity, then EITHER of them can take legal action to establish the man as the father of the child. Many fathers do not know this initially, and wait to take action.
Paternity Lawyer to Establish Parental Rights Over the Child
Using an attorney to file a paternity lawsuit can streamline the process. An attorney does not have to be expensive - too often people hear of $5,000 to $10,000 retainers and feel that they cannot access the legal system.
As a result, a father has to accept whatever the mother will allow as far as parenting time. Often this comes with a price of child support, but usually the parenting time disappears. Or worse, years go by and the father cannot then establish custody in the courts.
Father's seeking to establish paternity, and then custody and support can use an affordable attorney to file a lawsuit to establish these rights. Waiting too long can jeopardize your rights and create barriers to access to your child.
Revoking Paternity When Necessary
In cases where a man is not the father, but legally is assigned that role, it is important to protect your rights. A legal father will be charged with child support if he is legally the father.
Child support cannot be easily removed, and in many cases an arrearage of unpaid child support cannot be removed or eliminated. The law protects children and their right to support once established.
If you feel that you are not the father of a child, you have limited time to act to revoke your legal rights and obligations as the father of a child. Contact a paternity lawyer to determine if you have rights to revoke and take action to avoid many years of supporting someone else's child.