Paternity

Austin Paternity Attorneys

Texas and Paternity, Child Support, and Fathers' Rights

Knowing the identity of your baby's father is important for a number of reasons that will affect your child for the rest of his or her life. Above all other issues, every kid wants to know both his mother and father and have a strong relationship with each one. Sometimes these connections simply are not possible, but they should be encouraged whenever the circumstances will allow. Also, establishing paternity is crucial in any requests for child support and the resulting sense of financial stability for your family. Unmarried fathers also can ask the court for visitation rights if their paternity is definitely proven. We always know the identity of a baby's mother; knowing the dad can be more difficult but is just as important.

Paternity testing is a common formality when a mother and father are unmarried at the time of a baby's birth. Often times, this procedure is done quickly and the rights and responsibilities of both parents are quickly established. There are instances, however, in which the father of the child is not willing to admit paternity and legal steps must be taken to make sure that a man steps up his duties. The experienced family law attorneys at Bertolino LLP can work with forensic testing labs to establish definitive paternity and then move forward with the child visitation and support guidelines that make sense for your individual situation.

While people often think of a woman requesting paternity to prove who fathered her child, we are ready to help both fathers and mothers in these issues. If you are a man who signed over all possession and visitation rights years ago but now a woman is asking for financial support for your baby, or if you believe a woman is falsely claiming paternity simply in order to garner financial benefits, we can help aggressively represent you in court as you fight to assert your rights and defend your reputation. Or, if you are being denied a relationship with your child by his or her mother, you can use a positive paternity test to ask the court for a regular visitation schedule that cannot be subject to the mother's interference.

We can use the results of a paternity test to help a parent with child custody, child support payments, or removing roadblocks to a meaningful father-child relationship. Please contact our lawyers today to discuss your situation and review the legal possibilities that exist for your specific case.