It depends. If paternity has been established voluntarily, you cannot use a DNA test to challenge it, unless you can prove that you signed the Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity Form due to fraud, duress or a material mistake. If your name is not on the birth certificate and you do not agree that you are the child’s father, the court or the Florida Department of Revenue Child Support Program will require your DNA.
Your name is listed on the birth certificate after you sign a Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity form. This creates the presumption of paternity that you are child’s legal father. The presumption runs for 60 days from the date of signing, during which time you may withdraw your signature. If 60 days has passed and you did not withdraw your signature, you are the child’s legal father by operation of law. You will still need to go to court to establish a parenting plan and child support obligations, especially if you and the mother are no longer getting along.
The case is more complicated if the mother of the child was married to another man at the time of the child’s birth because the husband is presumed to be the legal father and he will have to file an action to disestablish paternity in order invalidate the presumption that he is the child’s legal father before you, the biological father, can have legal rights to the child.
If the father is married to the child’s mother, Florida law presumes that he is the child’s legal father and he is responsible for child support, even if he is not the child’s biological father. He can stop this obligation by filing a Petition to Disestablish Paternity. If the father is not married to the child’s mother, he is not recognized as the legal father until he voluntarily agrees to paternity or it is done by an administrative or court order. He will not have any child support obligation until paternity is established. However, he may be responsible for up to two years of back child support, from the date paternity is proven.
In some circumstances you may be able to. A married man is presumed to be the legal father of any children that his wife has. If you are not the child’s biological father, you will have to file a Petition to Disestablish Paternity. You have a good chance of winning the case unless:
Florida law no longer uses the term “custody” and there is also no “primary” or “secondary” parent designation. These terms have been replaced with “time-sharing.” A parent may have majority time-sharing or there can be a 50/50 time-sharing split, where both parents have equal time-sharing. The court will make a time-sharing schedule based on what is in the “best interests of the child.” The judge will rely on the factors stated in Florida Statutes 61.13 to make this determination.
A father can become the parent with majority-time sharing. The mother does not have any superior time-sharing rights.
No. Parents have a right to privacy and this includes how they raise their children. However, parents may voluntarily agree to visitation by grandparents. Any attempt to compel visitation with a grandparent is unconstitutional, except in certain limited circumstances, such as where the child is removed from the parent(s) physical custody or if both parents are deceased.
You can file a Petition for Modification of the Parenting Plan with the court. In order to have any chance of success, you will have to prove that there has been a material, substantial and unanticipated change in circumstances, from the date the parenting plan was court-ordered and that modification is in the best interests of the child.
Custody orders may also be changed if one party relocates or if the child has different needs.
Generally, each party bears their own costs and attorney’s fees. In a divorce case, one party may get the other spouse to pay his/her attorney’s fees. Also, if there is vexatious litigation, you can get fees from the other parent.
No. A parent should not withhold time-sharing because of missed child support payments. Courts frown upon this type of behavior and a parent could find himself/herself in contempt if he/she refuses to follow the court-ordered timesharing schedule.