Lakeland Family Lawyer

A family law case is before the Florida Supreme Court right now that is quite interesting.   The court must decide a dispute between a child’s legal father and her biological father. You see, in Florida , when a child is born of a marriage, the legal father is the man married to the mother.   The legal father, therefore, may not be the biological father.   Thus, the biological father may not have any rights to the child.   This presumption of legitimacy is based on the public policy of protecting the welfare of the child.   Prior to DNA testing, there was no scientific way of knowing biologically who the father was.   It was presumed that the husband was the father. This presumption protected the welfare of the child.   In cases of divorce, the child had protections of child support and health care. The law has not kept up with the science. As the law is currently, a legal father who is not a biological father would have to agree to release his rights and there would hav

You may very well be the biological father but does not mean you are the legal father or that you have any legal rights to your child.   It is important that if you are an unmarried father, you immediately establish your legal rights to your child.   In Florida, if a child is born out of wedlock, there is no presumption of fatherhood.   Paternity should be established first and foremost.   An establishment of paternity can be done in several ways: At the hospital, the “father” and mother when signing the birth certificate also sign an affidavit acknowledging paternity.   This affidavit is notarized and witnessed by 2 individuals.   If you only signed a birth certificate but did not sign this affidavit, you have not established paternity.   The “father” or mother files a petition for paternity through the court.   The parties then either stipulate to paternity or there is DNA testing that is conducted.   The Florida Department of Revenue may commence a paternity proceeding