Hire a Fathers’ Rights Lawyer Who Will Fight For Your Parental Rights
We’ll help you defend your fathers’ rights with a dedicated and experienced lawyer.
What Are Fathers’ Rights?
Are you a father who’s recently divorced or had a child out of wedlock? If so, you have certain rights in child-rearing and family planning. Fathers’ rights include parenting time with your child and to take time off work to care for your child.
Understand your legal rights as a father, so you can be involved in your child’s life and protect your relationship. By establishing paternity, you protect your child custody and visitation rights. You also ensure that your benefits, such as health and life insurance, can transfer to your child.
We’ll help you understand what fathers’ rights are, how they apply in your situation, and how an experienced lawyer can defend your case. We have connected millions of legal requests to date and will help you find the perfect fit for your case.
How Fathers’ Rights Apply To You
If you have or are about to have a child in an unmarried relationship, then you must be aware of your rights as a father. Unmarried parents are not entitled to the same legal rights as married parents. Let’s review fathers’ rights throughout a child’s life.
Birth of Your Child – Establishing Paternity
The first step to gain fathers’ rights is to establish paternity. This means you must sign the child’s birth certificate to acknowledge you are the biological father. By doing this, you agree to take legal responsibility for your child.
Per the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, all unwed parents must have the chance to establish paternity by signing the birth certificate at the time of birth or later on. In states like California, the mother cannot list you as the father if you are not present at the hospital when the child is born. Your name can be legally added after birth by going through a legal process. However, you may need to take a paternity test to prove that you are the father of the baby. Be aware of the specific rules of the state in which you live.
Signing the birth certificate alone does not guarantee it will be easy to win legal rights. However, it is a necessary first step in the process. Once your name is on the birth certificate, file a petition to establish your paternity with the Courts and define your access rights to the child. Until then the mother has 100% control when it comes to time-sharing and decision making regarding the child.
Raising Your Child – Providing Child Support
As a father who’s claimed paternity, you are responsible for child support, which covers the child’s food, clothing and shelter expenses. The amount you should provide depends on many factors. This includes the income of both parties and which parent has the majority of physical custody over the child. Please note that even if the mother is interfering with your visitation rights, you are still responsible for providing child support. If the mother is limiting or challenging your visitation rights, contact a lawyer to advocate for your rights.
Fathers’ Custody Rights and Visitation
As a father, it is your right to visit your child regularly, so you need to establish your visitation schedule. If you can work out a suitable arrangement with the mother, then it is always best to have a lawyer draw up a formal agreement and file it with the court. This will give both you and the other parent something to fall back on should a conflict arise. One parent may not abiding by the legally filed terms of a parenting plan. If this is the case, the other can take them to court to enforce the agreement. Without legal documentation of the agreement, this process cannot happen.
Many parents wind up going through the legal process in family court. A judge will take a parenting schedule and turn it into a custody and visitation order. It’s important to note, this is a legal order you both must follow. This protects your visitation rights from interference by the mother. If any problems arise down the line, it’s in your best interest to consult a dedicated fathers’ rights lawyer to help you defend your parental rights.
If you want to gain custodial rights for the child, you will need to provide thorough documentation and evidence for challenging the mother. Connect with one of our experienced fathers’ rights lawyers to advocate for your custodial rights.
Terminating Your Paternity
The procedure for giving up your fathers’ rights varies by state. Because of this, consult with a lawyer experienced in your state’s regulations. In case you are subject to involuntary termination of your parental rights, you must gather the proper documentation to demonstrate your abilities and fitness as a father. The procedures in such a case are also different depending on the state of residence. In most situations, involuntary termination is sought when you’re alleged to have abandoned the child, failed to provide financial support or are accused of abuse.
In either voluntary or involuntary paternity termination cases, seek the consultation of a reliable and experienced lawyer to guide you through your state’s complex rules and advocate for your rights.
Adoption of Your Child
For you to have any say over the adoption of your child, you must have established paternity. Rules for adopting your child vary from state to state. Variables that will impact the legal process are the child’s age, their consent, need for counseling and other factors. It’s important to consult a dedicated fathers’ rights lawyer to guide you through this process in your state.
Work With an Experienced Fathers’ Rights Lawyer
If you want to establish or challenge paternity or adoption of your child, understand your fathers’ rights and partner with an experienced and specialized lawyer to guide you through the legal process.
Be well prepared to take action. Contact a fathers’ rights lawyer near you.
Submit a request online or call us today at (866) 345-6784 to get in touch with an experienced lawyer in your area!
