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Do You Have to Establish Paternity in Michigan Before You Can Seek Child Support?
Many people don’t realize that legal paternity must be established in some child support cases. Paternity may also be a critical factor in cases involving child custody and benefits, so it’s essential to understand what paternity is and how to establish it.
What Is Paternity?
Paternity refers to establishing legal fatherhood. In Michigan, children have two biological parents, but the biological father is not automatically the legal father in all cases.
In cases where a man and woman are married at the time a woman becomes pregnant or has a child, paternity is assumed. That means the woman’s husband is automatically considered to be the legal father of the child in question, barring any motion and related evidence otherwise.
However, in cases where a man and woman are not married, paternity is not assumed. Someone has to take action to establish paternity before the child has access to benefits such as child support.
Who Has to Establish Paternity to Seek Child Support?
In any case where paternity is not assumed because of marriage, it must be established before court matters related to child custody or support can move forward. This is true whether the father or mother is seeking child support—even if the child has been left by the mother in the biological father’s care and he is the one caring physically for the child.
If paternity has been assumed because the mother was married at the time the child was born or conceived, it may need to be established via other methods if:
- The man currently or previously married to the woman believes someone else is the father and wants to eschew his own rights and responsibilities
- Someone else believes they are the father and wants to take on those rights and responsibilities
- The mother believes someone else is the father and wants to seek legal paternity for her child (generally after getting divorced)
What Are Some Other Reasons to Establish Paternity?
Child support and custody are not the only reasons to establish paternity for a child. Some other reasons to take this step include:
- Benefit rights. Establishing paternity helps ensure children have rights to benefits such as Social Security, insurance, pensions, and veterans’ benefits related to their father in the future.
- Inheritance rights. Paternity may need to be established to ensure children have rights to inheritance under the estate laws of the state, especially if the father doesn’t have a will or other estate plan that names them as beneficiaries.
- Personal identity. Having a father who recognizes them and who is recognized as their legal parent can help stabilize the familial identity of children. It can also provide a foundation to help them develop a relationship with that side of their family.
How Is Paternity Established?
To establish paternity as an unmarried parent, you must take some legal steps. If both parents want to voluntarily agree to name the father and legalize his rights, they can complete an affidavit doing so. This affidavit can be completed at the hospital upon the birth of the child. You won’t have to pay a fee for this service and can choose to establish paternity this way up until the paperwork for the birth certificate is filed.
If you don’t establish paternity at the hospital, you can complete the affidavit process at a county Registrar’s office, at a Michigan Department of Health and Human Services location, or online.
In cases where there is no agreement between the mother and the potential legal father, the party who wants to establish paternity must petition the court for assistance. Typically in such cases, the court will consider evidence and may order DNA testing to determine whether a man is the father of a child.
Why It’s Important to Work With a Lawyer
Paternity actions are serious legal steps that can have long-lasting consequences. Once a paternity affidavit is signed and processed, for example, it creates a legal relationship that involves a number of responsibilities, including the potential for child support. Understanding all of your rights and responsibilities—as well as how the paternity decision can impact children and others—is important.
Consulting a lawyer before you enter into any agreement or take steps to establish paternity can help ensure you are considering the big picture and taking the right steps in your case. A lawyer can also help you understand what obstacles you might face regarding your goals, whether they are to seek support from your child’s father or invoke your father’s rights if a mother is withholding a child from you.
Whether you’re working together as parents and just want to ensure that everything is executed correctly or you are involved in a contentious child support, custody, or father’s rights case, an experienced family law attorney can help. They will listen to your story, provide guidance on how you might move forward, gather evidence on your behalf, and present your case via filings and arguments in court if necessary.
If you would like experienced legal help in your paternity or child support case, reach out to Bailey & Terranova, P.C. today. Our team is experienced in these types of cases and can help protect the best interests of you and your child. Call us at 517-236-7187 to make an appointment.
