Paternity (law)

In law, Paternity is the legal acknowledgment of the parental relationship between a man and a child usually based on several factors.

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Under common law, a child born to the wife during a marriage is usually presumed to be the husband's child. This concept is the "presumption of lawful paternity", and assigns to the husband complete rights, duties and obligations as to the child. The presumption, however, can be sometimes be rebutted by evidence to the contrary, at least prior to a formal court ruling involving the putative paternity (often this is a decree of divorce, annulment, or legal separation). Jurisdictions differ widely on whether, when, and under what circumstances a judgment establishing paternity or a support obligation founded on the presumption can be set aside on the grounds that the husband was not in fact the father.

In the case of an unwed mother, a man may come forward and accept the paternity of the child, the mother may petition the court for a determination or paternity can be determined by estoppel over time.

Legal concerns

Where paternity of the child is in question, a party may ask the court to determine paternity of one or several possible fathers (called putative fathers) based initially upon sworn statements and then upon testimony or other evidence.

A successful application to the court results in an order assigning paternity to a specific man, possibly including support responsibility and/or visitation rights.

In some jurisdictions courts have also declared a man who acts as the child's father to be the father with all of the rights and obligations of parenthood.

A child born to the husband and wife prior to the marriage may or may not shed any remaining legal disabilities of illegitimacy.

Claimed defects

Paternity laws are seen by some to have defects. In cases of women lying about contraception, using deceit (such as oral sex followed by self artificial insemination (State of Louisiana v. Frisard) or statutory rape by a woman (Hermesmann v. Seyer), certain paternity laws give men no protection.

See also

• Paternity test
• Paternity fraud
• Child support
  • Bradley Amendment particularly the section on controversy
• Parental leave
• Maternity