Please note that the following is not intended to be legal advice and should not take the place of representation by an attorney. You should contact an attorney to discuss the specifics of your situation.

The biological mother or father of a child may file a suit to establish that there is a parent-child relationship between the child and the father. An adjudicated father is a man who has been found by a court to be the father of a child. A presumed father is essentially a man who is married to the mother of the child or lives in the house with the child for the first 2 years of the child’s life and represents to others that the child is his. These presumptions may be rebutted, or someone may choose to file a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity, or a presumed father may file a denial of his paternity if someone else has acknowledged paternity. If the parties do not agree that the child is the biological child of both parties, either party may request the Court to Order that genetic testing be conducted to determine the parentage of the child. Upon a finding of parentage, the Court may then enter an Order relating to possession and access to a child, custody, conservatorship, and support.