Paternity & Fathers’ Rights Lawyers

Establishing paternity is an important legal step for unmarried fathers in Florida. Being a child’s biological father does not always mean that you automatically have the legal authority to make decisions, seek a court-ordered time-sharing schedule, or otherwise exercise the full rights and responsibilities of a parent. Establishing legal paternity can provide the foundation for a father to build and protect a meaningful relationship with his child.

In recent years, Florida law has changed to provide unmarried fathers with greater recognition and clearer parental rights. Once you have established paternity, however, you may still need assistance to protect your rights when it comes to making decisions about your child and spending time with them. Our Florida fathers’ rights attorneys can work with you to help you determine paternity and enforce your parental rights.

At Luhrsen Goldberg, our Florida family law attorneys understand that paternity cases are about much more than establishing biological parentage. They are about protecting the relationship between a parent and child while creating a clear legal framework for raising that child. Reach out to our law firm today to schedule a free consultation with a Florida child custody lawyer.

What Is Paternity?

Paternity is the legal process of determining who a child’s father is. In Florida, establishing paternity can affect a father’s parental rights as well as his legal responsibilities to his child, such as paying child support.

When parents are married when a child is born, Florida law generally recognizes the mother’s husband as the child’s legal father. For unmarried parents, however, establishing legal fatherhood can require additional steps. In this situation, paternity may need to be established through a voluntary acknowledgement, an administrative process, genetic testing, and/or a court order.

Florida’s paternity laws have evolved to recognize that unmarried fathers can have important and meaningful parental relationships with their children. The 2023 updates to Florida family law, referred to as the “Good Dad” provisions, changed how unmarried fathers can establish parental rights without first obtaining a court order. The law also recognizes both parents as equal natural guardians of a child once paternity is established.

Establishing paternity creates a legal relationship between a father and his child. That relationship can affect several important areas of family law, including:

  • Parenting plans and time-sharing
  • Parental responsibility and decision-making authority
  • Child support
  • Health insurance and medical expenses
  • Inheritance rights
  • Access to important information about the child

Establishing paternity is often the first step towards obtaining rights related to your child.

Whether you are an unmarried father seeking to establish your rights, a mother seeking to establish the identity of a child’s father, or a parent involved in a disagreement over paternity, a Florida family law attorney can help. Our fathers’ rights lawyers can analyze your case and advise you of your options for protecting your parental rights.

How Is Paternity Established in Florida?

There are several ways paternity may be established in Florida, depending on the circumstances. This may include:

  1. Acknowledgment of Paternity: In some situations, parents may establish paternity by signing the appropriate legal documents acknowledging the father’s parentage. Florida’s recent statutory changes have made it easier in certain circumstances for unmarried parents to establish legal parentage without requiring the father to file a traditional paternity lawsuit. The details of an acknowledgement, including whether the document is properly executed and whether it has been revoked within the applicable period of 60 days, can be extremely important. Because signing a legal acknowledgement can have significant consequences, a father should understand what he is signing before completing the process. Options for acknowledging paternity may include:
    • Signing the birth certificate at the hospital
    • Filing a notarized voluntary acknowledgement of paternity
    • Completing a witnessed acknowledgment signed under penalty of perjury
  2. Court-Ordered Paternity: Paternity can also be established through a court proceeding. A parent may ask the court to determine whether a man is the child’s legal father. Genetic testing may be used when biological parentage is disputed. A court proceeding may be necessary when:
    • The mother wants to establish the father’s identity.
    • More than one person claims to be the child’s father.
    • A father wants to establish his legal relationship with his child.
    • A parent needs a court-ordered parenting plan.
    • Child support is disputed.

    A paternity case may resolve more than the biological question. Depending on the circumstances, the court can address parental responsibility, time-sharing, and other issues involving the child.

  3. Administrative Determination by the Department of Revenue: The Florida Department of Revenue offers an option to establish paternity without going through a court hearing. If genetic testing proves that a man is a child’s biological father, the state will issue an Administrative Order of Paternity, update the birth certificate, and may initiate a child support order. This process is often used when mothers want to establish paternity and receive child support. However, this administrative process cannot establish related family law matters such as child custody.

Fathers’ Rights After Paternity Is Established

Once paternity has been legally established, a father may seek formal orders concerning his relationship with his child. Florida family law uses the terms parental responsibility and time-sharing rather than “custody” and visitation.” A parenting plan addresses issues such as when the child spends time with each parent, how parents make major decisions, and how the parents communicate about the child’s needs.

Parental responsibility or decision-making authority is the ability of a parent to make major decisions on matters such as:

  • Education
  • Medical and dental care
  • Mental health treatment
  • Extracurricular activities
  • Travel

Florida courts may award shared parental responsibility, shared responsibility with certain limitations, or sole parental responsibility depending on the circumstances. Generally, parental responsibility is shared between the parents.

Time-sharing, or physical custody/visitation, is the schedule of how much time a child spends with each parent. Florida courts will consider many factors when deciding on custody based on the child’s best interests. Judges may consider things such as:

  • Each parent’s ability and willingness to foster a healthy parent-child relationship.
  • The child’s home, school, and community environment, and whether stability can be maintained.
  • Each parent’s mental and physical health, moral fitness, and background related to abuse or violence.
  • The child’s preference, if they are mature enough to express a reasoned opinion.

Time-sharing and parental responsibility are detailed in a parenting plan. Parents can agree to a plan or a court may order a plan after a trial. When it comes to time-sharing, a parenting plan can be set up in a variety of ways, such as every other week, a 2-3-2 rotation, a 2-2-5-5 rotation, or another option that works for the parents and child.

Florida law does not presume that one parent is better suited to have the child with the.  Instead, under Florida law, there is a rebuttable presumption that equal (50/50) time-sharing between both parents is in the best interests of the child. The law also does not favor the mother or the father based simply on their gender.

Instead, the court considers the child’s best interests and the statutory factors that apply to parental responsibility and time-sharing. A father who wants substantial or equal custody should be prepared to demonstrate that it would be in his child’s best interests.

Whether married or unmarried, many fathers worry about getting to spend time with their children. Our Florida fathers’ rights attorneys will listen to your concerns and advocate for your rights. We will work tirelessly to protect and defend your parental rights in Florida family law matters.

How To Spend More Time With Children Following A Divorce

As previously noted, under Florida law, fathers have the right to share time with their children and take part in important life decisions. These decisions include those related to education, religion, and healthcare, just to name a few. Unless it can be proven that it is not in the child’s best interest for a father to contribute to this decision-making, his rights must be protected.

The opportunity for shared parental responsibility allows fathers to play an essential role in their children’s lives. Florida laws have leveled the playing field, so one parent is not given preferential treatment over the other. When creating a parental plan, both parents’ schedules are considered.

Spending more time with children following a divorce or separation requires taking the appropriate legal steps. A parental timesharing plan ensures that both parents have an active role in their children’s lives, and a Florida fathers’ rights and paternity action attorney can help fathers put a plan in place.

Greyson’s Law: An Overview as to the Impact of Domestic Violence in Custody Matters

Originating from the heart-wrenching incident in Broward County, where a 4-year-old child and his father died in a murder/suicide, Greyson’s Law emphasizes the need for courts to recognize the significance of domestic violence in child custody decisions.  This includes situations where the mother may be the abusive party.

This law mandates that when making a judgment, the court must take into account:

  • If a parent has suffered from domestic violence.
  • If there’s a realistic and imminent threat of the parent becoming a victim of such violence.
  • Whether there have been any arrests, convictions, or injunctions against a parent for domestic violence.

Before this law, arguments in the courtroom could easily dismiss domestic violence incidents that didn’t directly involve the child as irrelevant to custody decisions. Now, judges have the jurisdiction to weigh evidence of domestic violence, including consistent patterns of abuse, threats, intimidation, or controlling behavior, while setting child timesharing standards.

Fathers and Child Support

Parental rights and responsibilities go hand in hand. A father who establishes paternity also has a legal obligation to contribute to the child’s financial support. Spending equal amounts of time with each parent does not mean that no child support will be owed. Instead, child support in Florida is calculated using statutory guidelines. Factors considered include the parents’ incomes, health insurance costs, childcare expenses, and the amount of time each parent spends with the child.

Child support may become an issue in your case whether you were previously married to the child’s mother or if you need to establish paternity. When you are exercising your parental rights as a father, it is important to understand that you may also have certain obligations.

How A Florida Fathers’ Rights & Paternity Action Lawyer Can Help

You must first understand what rights you have as a father before you can act on those rights. A paternity attorney can provide this guidance, highlighting the steps you need to take to get more time with your child, including how to play an influential role in their life.

Florida fathers looking to understand more about their rights and how to enforce them should reach out to Luhrsen Goldberg for a Florida fathers’ rights and paternity action lawyer. Our dedicated team of Florida divorce attorneys is passionate about securing justice for our clients. We welcome the opportunity to provide you with Law Powered by Women® legal assistance. Contact us today.