Father’s Right’s Attorney in Laguna Hills CA
Protect your rights by working with a father’s rights attorney in Laguna Hills CA
For many years, the mother of a child was considered the best person to raise the child. While a man and a wife raising a child together was the preferred option, if only one was raising the child then the courts almost always assigned custody to mothers. This is no longer true. Today, the courts are bound by law to grant custody based on who is best fit for the parent. Read on to learn more about this and other issues from a father’s rights attorney in Laguna Hills CA.
How to establish paternity without a father’s rights attorney in Laguna Hills CA
If a man and woman are married at the time a child is born, then that child is legally considered his child. If a man and a woman aren’t married but are living together as a family when a child is born, and the man demonstrates commitment to the child, then that man is legally considered the father. If neither of these things are true then paternity can get trickier.
There’s one simple way to establish paternity without calling on a father’s rights attorney. It involves a Voluntary Declaration of Paternity, which is a form both the mother and father sign to demonstrate that the man in question is the father. It is binding as soon as it’s signed but the father does have a further 60 days to ask for a paternity test. If that doesn’t happen then he is the legal father.
How to establish paternity with a father’s rights attorney in Laguna Hills CA
In the event that none of the situations above apply to the situation, then the father will need to contact a father’s rights attorney in Laguna Hills CA and go through the courts. There are a number of people who are able to ask for a paternity order, including the mother, a man who thinks he’s the father, a man who has been identified as a potential father, an adoption agency, and any child support agency the mother is working with.
When the child in question is not yet 12, then they’re not a party in the case. If they’re older than 12 they are a party in the case. In both situations, the courts will assign a “guardian ad litem” which is there to look out for the child and their best interests. The judge is able to require the potential father to take a paternity test and if he refuses then the judge can consider that he is then the father.
Not having custody doesn’t mean there are no responsibilities
Are you a father who wants custody of your child? Are you a father who has custody but needs to get child support from the child’s mother? Do you need assistance from the mother to pay medical costs, cover health insurance, etc. Or have you been accused of being the father to a child and you’re not sure it’s true? If any of these are true about you then it’s time to reach out to a father’s rights attorney in Laguna Hills CA.
You have rights and it’s important that they’re respected. Reach out now to contact Law Office of Michael L. Fell at (949) 585-9055 for a free legal consultation. We can tell you exactly what your options are.
