Fathers play a very important role in the upbringing of children. In some households, fathers are the primary caregivers. They stay home with the children while the mothers work to support the family.
Even if a father is the main wage earner for the family, their involvement with the children is important. When parents divorce, they usually have to negotiate custody arrangements. Everything may feel less certain when unmarried parents end their relationship with one another.
Unmarried fathers may not understand their parental rights or how to protect their relationship with their children. Too often, they make the mistake of giving up custody because they don’t know any better. How do unmarried fathers secure shared custody of their children?
Fathers may have to establish paternity
State law protects the rights of all parents, but asserting parental rights is easier for some parents compared to others. Mothers very obviously have a direct biological relationship with their children. Married fathers also have protection that comes from the state’s presumption of paternity. Married men have their names automatically included on the birth certificates of any children their wives have.
Unmarried fathers have parental rights, but they have to establish a legal relationship with their children to make use of those rights. To ask for shared custody awarded by the family courts, fathers first have to formally establish paternity.
Many unmarried fathers have already established paternity. They may have filled out paperwork with the mothers of their children at the hospital after their birth. If a man has already established paternity and has his name on the birth certificates of his children, then he can file a request for shared custody rights at any time.
If a father has not already established paternity, he must do so before asking for shared custody. Voluntary paternity acknowledgments are simple documents that fathers and mothers can fill out together to add a man’s name to the birth certificate of a child. However, not all mothers agree to acknowledge the fathers of their children.
In a scenario where the mother refuses to acknowledge the father or fill out paperwork to add him to the birth certificate, the man may need to ask the state for assistance. The courts can order paternity testing through basic genetic tests. The mother, father and child can all submit to testing conducted using basic mouth swabs. If the test results affirm that the man is the father of the child, he can then amend the birth certificate and move forward with custody proceedings.
Establishing paternity is crucial for fathers who want to continue playing an active role in the lives of their children. Fathers have legal rights, but they may need to take a few extra steps to assert those rights in certain situations.