What is paternity?
Paternity is establishing the father of a child when the parties are not related and having the law recognize him as the child's father. It is the first step with fathers' rights. This will allow the person established as the father through paternity suits the right to petition for visitation and have a say in the child's rearing, and it establishes the parent who must pay support for the child.
How is paternity established?
There are two ways to establish paternity. The first is to sign the birth certificate as the father or an acknowledgment of paternity. The second is to file a petition in court and request to be declared the father, or for a mother to declare the father. Married couples have a presumption of parentage. That is, regardless of who is the father, the husband is considered the father by law automatically when the child is born during the marriage. Thus, the child is considered to be the Husband's child for all intents and purposes, regardless of DNA. It is very difficult to disestablish paternity once it has been established. It will usually require fraud to change the Court's determination. Even then, other factors may need to be considered before the Court will reverse the paternity, including age of the child and attachment. Thus, the longer you wait, the less likely you are to be able to change parentage.
Usually, most paternity disputes wind up in Juvenile Court because that is where you file paternity cases when you are not married. In certain counties in Tennessee, such as Shelby County, paternity cases must be brought in Juvenile Court due to the number of residents. Where other counties allow cases to be brought in either Juvenile Court or Chancery Court. However, the Court has procedures that must be followed. First, as your Tennessee paternity attorney, I would file a petition on your behalf. Many Courts will require that when a parent is establishing paternity that they first take a DNA test, pass it, and then set up child support. This is to avoid any future problems with fathers requesting to "bastardize" their children years down the road when they begin to doubt paternity. Caveat - be careful what you ask for! Once you have disestablished paternity, you will no loner be able to exercise visitation or contact the child, and the consequences can have a devastating effect on a child, you and/or your family.
