Determining paternity can be a challenging process. Many fathers seek the assistance of a family law attorney to help them complete the important course of work required to prove their fathers’ rights. While mothers are easily identifiable as a parent to their kids, fathers can be more difficult to recognize if they are not in a relationship with their children’s mother.
In Arizona, a father can establish voluntary paternity in a number of ways. First, he can be married to the mother of his child. Second, he and the child’s mother may be unmarried but he may be listed as the child’s father on the child’s birth certificate. Third, the father and mother may marry after the child is born and have the father’s name added to the child’s record of birth.
There are other ways that paternity can be established, including through involuntary means that compel men to recognize their offspring and require them to provide support for their kids. Being recognized as the father of a child is not all work and expense, however. Establishing paternity can give a father an opportunity to form a lasting relationship with his child and provide that youth with the love and support that every child needs.
Men who wish to share in the child support and custody duties of raising their kids may first need to demonstrate that they are their children’s biological father. Whether the process will be contentious between former partners or smooth between the members of a loving couple, some fathers choose to utilize the legal services of a family law attorney when beginning their paternity journey.
An Arizona family law attorney can help fathers ensure that they have met all of the legal requirements of establishing paternity so that they can enjoy parenting rights.