Establishing paternity of a child affects many rights of an alleged Father. Primarily, the Father will need to pay child support, may have to provide health insurance for the minor child, and may have to provide a life insurance policy naming the child as beneficiary. It is important that both parties seek representation in order to assert their rights in a paternity action.
In Florida, many Paternity actions are filed by the Department of Revenue, a government agency. The Department of Revenue acts on behalf of the primary residential parent (the parent who has custody of the minor child) and usually requests child support and medical benefits for the child. Actions filed by the Department of Revenue do not address custody or visitation rights. The paternity cases filed by the Department of Revenue are usually filed with the intent to provide the child monetary support.
In paternity actions, there are several defenses a client may be unaware that he may have. Theses include contesting whether the client is actually his biological child; raising the defense of "laches"; meaning the mother has waited too long to bring the case against the Father, contesting the amount of income used to calculate child support to the Father; and many others. Without representation, it is very easy for the government to present the case to the Judge and receive a ruling in the Mother's favor. Having an experienced family law attorney will allow you to defend yourself in a paternity action.
In Florida, if a male has acted as a Father to the child but is not the biological child, he can still be ordered to pay child support. This is referred to as a "putative" father. There are certain time limitations that are imperative to defending an action against you if you are not the Father. The Baird Law Group can help you defend yourself in a paternity action. Please contact us to schedule a consultation to discuss your case involving paternity.
