Paternity Lawyer

Serving Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica for over 42 years.

Paternity is about unmarried child custody and visitation issues. Ask how depositions provide a wealth of information that assists significantly when establishing custody and child support agreements.

Discover how emergency hearings help when your child's health and safety are at stake. Find out how Temporary Restraining Orders affect child custody and, in fact, can immediately protect children.

Call to find out about your child custody move away chances, and how you can protect their rights.

California Family Law Paternity Suit:

(Unmarried with Child)

pa·ter·ni·ty:

1. The state of legally being the mother or father;
2. Descent on a mother or father's side; paternal or maternal descent;
3. Authorship; origin.

Paternity suits have exactly the same financial custody, visitation, holiday and move-away rules applied to them as a divorce custody matter.

We always recommend DNA testing to be certain that an 18-year support obligation, that is both financial and emotional, is based on the reality of parenthood.

Paternity suits are confidential and cannot be accessed by anyone other than both parents and their lawyers. The same judges that hear divorces hear paternity cases.

The same computer program (Dissomaster) utilized to calculate spousal support, also calculates child support. The calculations are based on the income of the parties and the amount of time the non-custodial parent spends with the child. Child care costs are extra.

The technology is similar to a divorce's technology, in that it includes child psychiatric evaluations, interrogatories, depositions and financial discovery.

Do not make the mistake of giving less importance to a paternity suit compared to a divorce or you will live to regret it both financially and emotionally.

Who Qualifies as a Presumed Father Under California Law?

California 's parentage rules involve a complicated set of sometimes conflicting presumptions.

First, a man is conclusively presumed to be the father of a child if he is both married to and cohabiting with the mother, as long as he is not sterile or impotent.

In law, a "conclusive" presumption usually means that it cannot be rebutted. But this presumption actually can be rebutted, within two years of the child's birth, with blood tests showing that the husband is not the biological father of the child.

Second, a man might also be presumed to be the father of a child based on being married to, but not cohabiting with the mother at the time of the child's birth.

A father could attempt to solemnize a marriage to the mother, but have it later declared invalid. Or, he could receive the child into his home and openly hold out the child as his natural child.

Presumptions are written in such a way that multiple men may qualify as the "presumed father" of the same child. In theory, multiple fathers could qualify as presumed fathers. As such, some family law Paternity matters turn out to be cases of conflicting presumptions.

These presumptions of fatherhood are rebuttable. They may be refuted "in an appropriate action by clear and convincing evidence" -- which, again, could include blood tests showing true biological paternity.

For the child's sake, please speak with a licensed experienced custody attorney when dealing with paternity issues.

8 Preeminent Dedicated
Los Angeles & Beverly Hills Paternity Lawyers
Serving California for over 42 years.

Santa Monica Paternity