How Will Paternity Affect Fathers’ Rights?

Custody rights can be one of the most challenging and stressful forms of law. For many fathers this is a complicated minefield and one that they can’t go alone, needing Atlanta paternity attorneys to help see them through the process. After all, being able to raise a child and be a father is an incredible opportunity that many people don’t want to lose out on. But, what is paternity law, who are Atlanta family lawyers, and how can family law attorneys Atlanta help someone through these difficult situations?

Explaining Custody Law

Custody rights can become complicated when the child is born outside of marriage. In the state of Georgia, simply by being the father, or having paternity, does not guarantee you visitation rights with your child. This is because Georgia law gives the mother sole custody, and father’s only can have custody if they establish a relationship legally with the child. This is because in Georgia paternity and legitimation are two distinctly different things. It is legitimation that makes it possible to have visitation rights when you are an unmarried father.

Paternity has responsibilities that come with it. For one, you can be held liable for child support due to paternity. This is a major financial burden on your shoulders, without any access to spending time with your child. However, many fathers think that having paternity proven should be enough to see their child, due to a lack of understanding about Georgia’s custody laws. It’s also why establishing legitimation is so important to unwed fathers.

What is an Atlanta Father’s Rights Attorney

Paternity lawyers in Atlanta GA are experts in the field of custody law in the state of Georgia. This means that they are the ones who are able to help fathers deal with issues relating to their paternity or custody in Georgia. During the process of trying to establish custody of a child out of wedlock, there are two major things that they help fathers to work on. The first is the process of establishing paternity. The second is the actual process of legitimation, which gives custody to the father.

How Can a Custody Attorney Help You?

There are two major things that a custody attorney can help you to manage if you’re an unwed father who wants to have legal rights to see their children. The first thing that a father needs to do is establish paternity, or confirm that they are the child’s father. This simply requires genetic testing, and it allows the father to be added to the birth certificate. Your custody attorney can help you through this process.

At this point, as a father you will be on the birth certificate and may need to pay child support. To earn visitation rights you then need to go through the legitimation process. This is a legal process that your attorney will need to guide you through, and it will need to take place in the county in which the mother resides. From there, it needs to be established that there is a relationship between the father and child. This includes that the child was in legal custody of the father while this process legitimation of the child when the legal process occurred.

A mother can challenge legitimation through the court system on the basis of paternity or that the father doesn’t have an opportunity to establish a relationship. For this, your lawyer will be able to argue and litigate on your behalf through the court system.

For more information on custody law and for a father’s rights attorneys in Atlanta, contact North Georgia Family Lawyers, LLC to set up an appointment today.