These are our most frequently asked questions regarding paternity. For more information more tailored to your specific situation, you can schedule an initial consultation with one of our attorneys to begin receiving legal advice on your matter.
If you have a child with someone you are not married to, then you may need a paternity action to legally establish the identity of the father of the child. You may be able to get help with this process through the county prosecutor’s office, or you may file your own action with the court.
A DNA test may be required to establish whether the presumed father is the actual father of the child. DNA tests do not give absolute answers but identify the odds of paternity.
If an acknowledgment of paternity has been signed by both parents and filed with the state, then it may not be necessary to establish the father of the child, but a parentage action may still be needed to obtain a parenting plan and order of child support.
If you have any questions as to what steps need to be taken with your paternity action, it’s better to speak with a Seattle family law attorney in order to prevent any mistakes from occurring.
If you want to ask the court the court to determine the parentage of a child, you start by filing a Petition to Decide Parentage (you attorney will help you with this). In the petition, or in a response to the petition, you should name any other potential parents you are aware of so that all can be notified of the proceeding, and the court can make a determination between all candidates. When appropriate, DNA tests may be required by the court.
Establishing paternity is a necessary legal process that protects the legal rights of both the child and the parents. In Washington State, this process is especially crucial for unmarried parents, as paternity is not automatically established at birth unless the parents are legally married. Whether you are a mother seeking child support or a father wanting parenting time, understanding the steps involved can help ensure your rights are protected. Family law attorneys can provide valuable guidance through this process.
Step 1: Establishing Paternity at Birth
Step 2: Signing an Acknowledgment of Parentage After Birth
Step 3: Court-Ordered Paternity Testing
In Washington State, paternity is only established after a child is born. Some aspects of paternity law depend on where the child was born (does Washington have jurisdiction?) and when the child was born (was the child born within 300 days of the end of the marriage?). “Child” as used in our paternity laws refers to a child who has been born.
Generally, an adoption disestablishes one or both parents as legal parents and establishes a new set of adoptive parents as the legal parents in their stead. A full adoption is where a couple adopts a child that is without parents or whose parents are not able to continue to care for the child. A stepparent adoption is a form of adoption where one parent remains as a parent, but that parent’s spouse adopts the child and steps into the place of the biological parent.
In an adoption, both the rights and responsibilities of legal parent shift to the new parents and are removed from the former parents. However, sometimes there may be an open adoption contract that still give the former parents rights to maintain some relationship with the child.