Paternity in Wisconsin
If you’re facing a divorce, you might be worried about keeping in touch with your children. Fortunately, our attorneys at Karp & Iancu can review your rights as a father and help you fight back.
A father’s relationship to their children can be important to both the child’s growth and their family relationship. Unfortunately, a divorce and/or custody ruling can make it difficult to maintain that situation.
Why Seeking Paternity is Important
Whether you’re seeking a divorce or seeking custody rights to your child, establishing fatherhood is important. If you don’t seek out proof of paternity, you may be ineligible for child custody. That means you could lose your rights to keeping your children in your care, even if living with their mother isn’t in their best interests.
Determining Paternity
While Wisconsin has some statutes protecting the rights of parents to their children, fathers are in a unique position. While determining the maternity of the child may be easy, determining paternity may be required before you have legal rights to your child. This is especially true if you and the mother of your child weren’t married.
Fortunately, this doesn’t have to be complicated. The mother may voluntarily name you as the father, or you may have been married at the time the child was born. In these cases, the paternity may be assumed.
However, if the mother doesn’t name you as the father in this way, you may need to take a genetics test to prove your fatherhood. This test will show the court you’re the father, and the proceedings may continue.
The Paternity Test Process
If the mother agrees to declare you the biological parent, a voluntary paternity acknowledgement form will need to be filled out. This form declares you as the legal father without the need to take your case to court.
If the mother doesn’t agree to this option, you may need to take genetics test to establish paternity. We can help you find viable tests that the court will accept, then guide you through getting the test and presenting the evidence in court.
What’s Next?
If you’re struggling to prove you’re the biological father of your children, it can be disheartening and upsetting. You’ll need someone on your side who can help you prove your fatherhood and help you overcome these accusations.
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