Often, when an Arizona resident hears a story about paternity, it involves a father fighting to gain access to the child or children he believes are rightly his. Establishing paternity can be an important step in this process as it provides the basis for creating a legal, blood-based bond between a man and his offspring. However, there is another way that a man may find himself dealing with paternity issues in an Arizona family court: when he is determined to be the father of children that he does not believe are actually his.
When paternity is established, a man often becomes responsible for child custody and support matters that previously did not apply to his life. He must provide financial assistance to his children and sometimes is required to spend time with them through visitation and custody as well. If a man is certain that he is not a child’s father, these responsibilities can quickly become hardships.
Mistakes in the establishment of paternity can happen when paternity fraud is committed or when laboratories undertaking paternity tests make mistakes in the evaluation of physical data. There are a number of ways that a man can prove that he is not a child’s father, such as impotence or infidelity on the part of the child’s mother. But, completing a paternity challenge can be a difficult process.
If a man believes that he has been wrongly designated the father of a child, he has the right to seek legal assistance in challenging that designation and the many responsibilities that come with it. Paternity is a complicated legal issue within the greater realm of family law, and men who desire to establish or challenge paternity issues may wish to seek the advice of legal counselors who include paternity matters in their legal practices.
