Brighter Day Law’s Experienced Parentage Attorney Specializes in Paternity Cases in El Paso County, Teller County, Pueblo County, and Throughout Colorado
Parents are responsible for the physical, financial, and emotional well-being of their children and those legally in their care. However, it is not uncommon for the parentage of a child to be brought into question and for a child’s needs to be neglected because a caretaker, guardian, or other individual does not feel legally obligated to fulfill those needs. Even beyond children, paternity is an important issue that can affect every aspect of a person’s life – even adults – since it has important legal ramifications on, for example, inheritance, financial obligations, and visitation rights. Contact the experienced Colorado Springs paternity lawyer with Brighter DaySM Law today so can help you handle your paternity case.
Who Needs a Parentage Attorney?
It depends on the case at hand, but the mother of a child or an alleged father are usually the most common petitioners for parentage and paternity tests. Parents, guardians, or caregivers who may be locked in a dispute over, for example, financial assistance, visitation rights, or inheritances may require the assistance of a parentage attorney to help clear the air on the legal standing of the parents of a child or individual. This is to ensure that all the parties involved can move on in their lives with the relevant legal parentage of the person in question formally established.
A Colorado Springs Paternity Lawyer Can Help You with Your Parentage Case
In general, if a couple is married when a child is born, they are presumed to be the biological and/or legal parents of that child. If, however, the parents were not married when the child was born, then the actual parentage of the child may be cast into some doubt. Furthermore, some fathers request for their names to be listed on the birth certificate of their child, while others do not want to be recognized as the biological parent of a child that is actually theirs.
While parentage disputes are a common reason for questions about someone’s paternity to be raised, parentage should still be formally established. This is because there are many legal rights and/or responsibilities of different parties involved that need to be recognized and fulfilled, such as issues pertaining to child support and child custody.
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There can also be cases in which an individual is wrongfully listed – either intentionally, unintentionally, or even maliciously – as the parent of a child that is not theirs. In such cases, the individual that is wrongfully named as a parent (usually on the child’s birth certificate) may not want to be legally responsible for the child. In such cases, they may have the rightful legal grounds for wanting to avoid being responsible for that child. In such cases, the named individual may file a paternity petition to formally disprove the assertions of the mother or the birth certificate that claims that they are the parent of a child that is not theirs.
These are complex scenarios, but a Colorado Springs paternity lawyer with Brighter DaySM Law is here to help. Our experienced parentage attorney can help you with every aspect of your case, whether you are the petitioner of a case or a parentage case is opened against you.
Establishing Paternity in Colorado
In some cases, a person’s paternity can be established via a voluntary process that is initiated by the parties involved. For children, the Colorado courts will then leave it to the parents and their attorneys to come up with a parenting plan and make other relevant decisions that are in the best interests of the child or children involved in the case. In some cases, court-ordered mediation may be required, and some cases may require the intervention of a family investigator.
The admission of a parent can suffice as proof of paternity, and this is often what happens in amicable cases. In other cases, a DNA or paternity test may be needed, and this can be performed with the help of an experienced parentage attorney.
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Perhaps the biggest reason for establishing paternity is to ensure that any affected children receive the physical, financial, emotional, and psychological support and comfort they need. The development of healthy relationships and sound mental and emotional growth also hinge on knowing who your parents are, so these are additional reasons for establishing paternity for a child whose parentage may be in some doubt.
Our Colorado Springs Paternity Lawyer Will Help You Petition for Paternity
In Colorado, paternity petitions must be filed within four years of a child’s birth. A failure to establish paternity can lead to a wide range of issues, and parents can sue and counter-sue after the fact to prove or disprove the parentage of a child that they claim is or isn’t theirs.
With the assistance of Brighter DaySM Law’s parentage attorney, you can potentially resolve many paternity-related issues and conflicts, including issues arising from or pertaining to child custody, visitation rights, financial assistance, and any applicable moral or emotional obligations that a parent is expected to fulfill for children that are theirs.
Contact our offices today to learn more about the services our parentage attorney can provide for you and to initiate or respond to a paternity petition on your behalf.
Frequently Asked Questions Answered by Our Experienced Parentage Attorney
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