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Paternity

Melbourne Family Attorney Resolves Paternity Issues In Brevard County

Paternity cases establish the legal identity of the father in parents who are not married. The Law Office of Joan Berry Nassar, P.A. has assisted many women in establishing the legal paternity of their children and helped many men obtain parental rights to their children.

Paternity actions in Florida can be filed by men or women.  I can counsel you if you’re a mother who wants to use a paternity suit to identify the father of your child for purposes of establishing child support obligations. I can counsel you if you are a father who wants to establish a parenting plan, as well as those who want to establish that they are not a father in a given case. Every aspect of my firm’s paternity practice is carried out with utmost discretion and privacy.

Before paternity is established by the court, the Mother has all decision making authority and parenting time.
Once paternity is established, a timeshare schedule/parenting plan and child support should also be established. See details about these topics under Child Custody/Timesharing and Child Support on this website.

Common Paternity FAQs

  • My name is on the birth certificate. Am I acknowledged by the court as the Father?
    • Answer: Not always. To establish paternity, the court must either adjudicate you to be the father of the child through a court proceeding OR an affidavit, as authorized by Florida statutes, must be signed. Without such establishment of paternity, the father does not have legal rights or obligations.
  • My spouse had an affair and is now pregnant. Do I have to support the child?
    • Answer: Florida law presumes that the husband of a biological mother of a child is the child’s legal father. This presumption can be overcome under certain circumstances.
  • My girlfriend is pregnant and I think I am the father. What should I do?
    • Answer: Register in the putative father registry. The purpose of the registry is to permit a man alleging to be the unmarried biological father of a child to preserve his right to notice and consent in the event of an adoption. If the Mother will not cooperate with paternity testing, file a Petition to Establish Paternity and request the court to order a paternity test.

Contact our experienced Brevard County paternity lawyer today

Call the Law Office of Joan Berry Nassar, P.A. today at 321-405-0042 or contact me online to schedule a consultation at my Melbourne, Florida office.

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