Child Legitimation
Claiming paternity of a child, or seeking legitimation of them, can be a complex issue and is often tricky to navigate when circumstances complicate matters. You can go it alone but judges most definitely do not favor pro se litigants who attempt to traverse the process unprepared. It is much better to have an experienced family law attorney to guide you, and we at Life Love Law are ready to aid you as you seek to assert your paternal status and rights.
Why Should I Seek Legitimation
It may come as a surprise to many fathers but, under Georgia law, if you were not married to your child’s mother at least ten (10) months prior to the birth or at the time of birth then you have no parental rights.
It will not matter if you signed the birth certificate.
It will not matter if you have lived with the child or have a relationship with them.
It will not matter if you pay child support.
Technically, if you are not or have not been married to the mother of your child, then the child is considered to have been born out of wedlock and is therefore not legitimate. You can have legal obligations to your child and still have no legal rights to them. (If the mother is legally married to another man, then their husband will be considered the legal father if the child is born while they are married.)
Being deprived of this legal status can complicate many things when a couple splits up and/or when a father wants to be more involved in their child’s life. Issues of custody and visitation will be muddied by a lack of legitimation. A father will also run into problems of inheritance with no legal status: your child will not be able to inherit from you or vice versa.
One of the most important pieces of the legitimation puzzle will be a DNA paternity test. It’s an important piece of evidence that may be requested by the court during your eventual hearing. One of the easiest ways to obtain a paternity test is to ask your primary care physician to recommend one, or contact a testing lab such as LabCorp, DDC, or others. Legal paternity test fees can range anywhere from $300 to $800, or even more depending on the provider and the services included.
Child Legitimation: General Information
“Where do I file my Petition for Legitimation?”
The petition will have to be filed in the mother’s or legal guardian’s county of residence. Should they live out of state or be unable to be located, then the father can file in their own county. (If an adoption has been filed, the father will need to file in the county where the adoption is proceeding.)
“Should I include anything within the petition?”
If you’re seeking any type of custody of the child, whether primary or joint, or wish to define parameters of visitation with the child then make sure to include those in your petition. This helps to ensure that these items can be enforced by a judge through subsequent contempt actions if needed.
“What should I do once my child is officially legitimized?”
Our recommendation is to obtain a certified copy of the order legitimizing your child and keep it somewhere secure, in case situations arise where the mother or legal guardian attempts to deny you access to your child during your allotted parenting time. Law enforcement will need to see this order to help you in such circumstances.
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