Sacramento Paternity Lawyers
Parentage refers to the establishment of paternity for a child. In cases in which a mother is married, the law assumes that her husband is the child’s father. Paternity in such a case is often automatically established; although in some cases, when it is suspected that the husband is not the father, one may petition for a blood test in order to establish who the legal father is.
In the event you are the father of a child and you are not married to the mother, you must first establish you are the child’s parent with the court before the court will issue a custody order. You can do this by filing a petition to establish parentage.
You may also want to dispute a claim of parentage in the event you have been ordered to pay child support for a child you do not believe is yours. You can often ask for a blood test to show you are not the father.