When a disagreement develops concerning a paternity case in Texas, it can be very frustrating for those involved if they don’t know what their legal options are. If you feel that a child is yours, for example, but the child’s mother disagrees, you can be cut off from normal parental contact with that child against your will. Without proper legal work, you may never get the rights that you deserve.
However, there are things that you can do, including starting a case to officially determine paternity. This is not something that medical and legal professionals do automatically when a child is born, but is only something that is taken on when two parties disagree.
Paternity suits can be filed by either side. As noted above, a father who has lost contact with his child may file in order to be involved in that child’s life. On the other side, a mother may file if she needs child support payments and a man is refusing to pay on the grounds that he does not believe that he is the father—even though she believes that he is.
Additionally, paternity suits in Texas have no time limits when there isn’t a presumed father, as they do in some other areas. A suit could be filed when a child is a newborn baby who has just been brought home from the hospital or when that child has grown up into adulthood. When someone is presumed to be the father, though, there are time limits, and the case has to begin with four years in most cases.
To learn how to take legal action to establish paternity when needed, please visit our site today.