Before a child support order can be established for a child, the alleged father must either admit or be proven to be the child's father. An In-Hospital Paternity Affidavit is the first method for establishment of paternity. If there is no such Affidavit, the alleged father may request a DNA Paternity Test. Our office prepares all of the necessary paperwork and legal documents and handles all of the scheduling for DNA Paternity Testing when the alleged father requests or when ordered by the court. While it is best to establish paternity soon after the child's birth, our office is bound to try to establish paternity for any child up to the child's eighteenth birthday.

Our office does not provide DNA Paternity Testing to anyone merely seeking to learn whether or not they are the father of a child. In cases where a father wishes to establish paternity he may not request DNA Paternity Testing as a condition before being ordered to pay child support. Putative non-custodial fathers will be required to pay child support upon a finding of paternity by the court. DNA Paternity Testing will only be conducted by order of the court upon a finding that the mother cannot name the putative father as the legal and biological father of the child.

The establishment of paternity affords your child legal rights and privileges that belong to any child born within a marriage. Among these are rights to inheritance, rights to the father's medical and life insurance benefits, and to social security and veteran's benefits which may be available.