Establishing Paternity: Necessary Steps for Custody Rights
Under Oklahoma law, can I get custody if I’m not on the birth certificate? I am Attorney James Wirth and that is the question that we have. So for a father of a child who is not on the birth certificate, can they get custody? The answer is absolutely yes, but you’re going to get on the birth certificate through that process.
So how do you get on a birth certificate when a child is born? Typically, there’s a form at the hospital that DHS provides, an Acknowledgement of Paternity. If mom and dad sign on that saying that dad is the dad, then that will get the father put on the birth certificate. That creates a presumption of paternity. It does not make absolute paternity.
Establishing Paternity and Custody Rights
Ultimately, the parties could file a paternity action if they do so timely. But in this case, we’re talking about where an Acknowledgement of Paternity was not done. That does not prevent you from getting custody, but it does mean that you don’t have any rights to the child as of that time if this child is born outside of a marriage.
If the child is born inside of a marriage, then the child should be on the birth certificate through that typical means. But if it’s outside of a marriage and the Acknowledgement of Paternity is not signed by both parents, then the father’s not gonna be on the birth certificate and he doesn’t have any rights except the rights to get those established in court.
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So you’d file a petition to establish paternity, custody, visitation, and child support. And then you either demonstrate by agreement or through DNA testing that you are the father. And then from that point, you can be granted custody, visitation, and child support rights. The fact that you weren’t on the birth certificate initially doesn’t matter except for determining what your rights are at that moment you don’t have any. It doesn’t prevent you from getting those rights.
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And once you get a court order establishing that you’re the father, the birth certificate will be updated to put you on there and you can get rights for custody, visitation, all that going on. So if you’re dealing with those circumstances, though, you might want some advice specific to your circumstances. So you wanna talk to an Tulsa child custody Attorney privately and confidentially. If you’d like to speak with a Wirth Law Office Tulsa Attorney, you can go online to MakeLawEasy.com or call us at 918-879-1681 for a low-cost initial strategy session.
