Father’s Right’s Attorney in Lake Forest CA
Discover how a father’s rights attorney in Lake Forest CA can protect your rights
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 Lake Forest CA.
How to establish paternity with a father’s rights attorney in Lake Forest 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 Lake Forest 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.
How to establish paternity without a father’s rights attorney in Lake Forest CA
In some cases, the law will assume the paternity of a child. For example, if a husband and wife are married when the baby is born and if the child is born to a woman who has been living with a man in a family-like manner and that man has shown commitment to the child. Absent either of these two situations, paternity must be established.
The easiest way in most cases involves both parents signing a “voluntary declaration of paternity.” If the child is born in a hospital, the nurses will provide the form to the mother and alleged father. When they sign the form, they are both acknowledging that they are the parents of the child and the father’s name is then added to the birth certificate. The father also has every right and responsibility for that child.
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 Lake Forest 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.a
