It has happened many times before. You start raising a child, and afterward, you get emotionally attached to them as any good person does. Now you are getting red flags and signals that show your partner might have been cheating on you during the conceiving time. You took a DNA paternity test, and the results show that you are not the father. You are in the middle of confusion and uncertainty and don’t know what to do.
Never married your partner, cannot claim the child legally:
If you never married your partner and didn’t even sign a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity document or birth certificate, but you want to have a relationship with the child, you do follow things. The best option is to claim legal guardianship. This law applies in many states. The first thing you have to do is to file a petition in the court of your state. After this, the court will decide whether you have a case or not, and they will conduct a thorough interview with the mother and the biological father if he is identified with the help of DNA testing.
There are some things that you must know before starting the process, as they are mandatory for being a legal guardian.
- You must prove that you have a positive influence on the child and you can become the child’s role model.
- Afterward, you should also be physically able to complete the responsibilities as a legal guardian.
- Moreover, you should have the income to afford the expenses of raising a child.
- Similarly, you should also have time to care for the child.
- Furthermore, you should also be a legal adult.
The jury always ensures that the judgment they are going to make has the best interest of the child. Once the whole process is completed, and you have completed all their requirements. As a result, they will decide you should be the legal guardian, and you can continue the relationship with the child. Additionally, the child’s biological parent’s consent is also an important factor regarding the guardianship of a child. However, if the biological parents don’t give you consent, you can still file a petition for being a legal guardian if the parents are unfit to raise a child.
Claiming the child legally:
If you have not married the mother, but you did sign the voluntary acknowledgment of birth certificate or paternity, the chances of avoiding child support are very low, along with getting a return for paid child support, even if the DNA test kit result shows that you are not the father.
Some states allow the father to disestablish paternity, so they are no longer obligated to financial support. However, the criteria for this are very narrow, and this process rarely includes the return for child support. Additionally, you should consult with a family law attorney so that you can know what your state allows.
When you are married to your partner:
If a child is born during the marriage, the husband will be considered the default biological father and legal guardian in almost every case. What if you conducted paternity testing and found out that the child isn’t yours? No one can understand the amount of pain and confusion you are going through. More importantly, what will happen to your relationship with the child? For instance, a man who must anonymously find he’s 15-year-old daughter is the result of his wife’s affair didn’t know what would be the best way to handle this situation. In the end, he divorced his wife for the best, but he didn’t end his relationship with the child and even supported her financially. As the little girl only knows him as the dad, and he also loves the child abundantly. In some cases, DNA doesn’t matter.
Conclusion:
Suppose you want to prevent this trauma, specifically if you are a woman and you are not married. You should be proactive about deciding paternity with the help of DNA test kits before agreeing to sign any kind of birth certificate or acknowledgment of paternity. In many cases, men only have two years after the birth of the baby, so they can file a petition for paternity.
After two years, the procedure can become quite complex, like getting paternity testing after birth or noninvasive parental DNA testingbefore the birth of the child. These processes can help you in avoiding a child and a false relationship with the child.
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