To legally be the father of your child, you do have to establish paternity. The only instances in which paternity is assumed is if the mother and father of the child are married. Then when the child is born both parents are on the birth certificate as well as given legal rights to their child. If you are a Long Beach father who is not married then you will want to get paternity determined sooner than later. Even if you and your significant other have been together for a couple years and you know the child is yours, if you were not determined to be domestic partners then you will need to establish paternity. With the help of a Long Beach family law firm, The Law Offices of Kyle R. Puro, they can get your paternity case figured out fairly simply. When you want to have a relationship with your child and the other parent is trying to keep you from that relationship, getting paternity confirmed is vital.

Getting confirmed paternity will allow you to be named on the birth certificate and eliminate any further confusion later on. Long Beach paternity lawyers also know that you can sign a voluntary declaration of paternity at the hospital when the baby is born to be on the birth certificate. But you only want to do this is you are certain the child is yours, otherwise you will have full legal responsibility to a child who may not be yours. If you do sign this you will not get the opportunity to take a DNA test to truly establish that you are the biological father of this child. The Law Offices of Kyle R. Puro a family law firm in Long Beach knows that this option can seem nice because you will not need a lawyer, but to protect yourself you will want to go the paternity lawyer route over signing this document, unless there is no doubt in your mind this is your child.