Determining the Rights and Obligations of Unmarried Parents in New York State
Strictly speaking, paternity actions are narrowly focused on two issues: whether a particular man is the father of an unmarried woman's child, and how much child support the man will be expected to pay once paternity is established. In most cases, both of these are fairly easy to resolve. DNA testing will quickly determine the identity of the father in nearly all cases, and the child support obligation will be fixed according to the same guidelines used in divorce cases.
At the Albany law firm of Arroyo Copland & Associates, PLLC, our lawyers provide comprehensive client services on all aspects of paternity and the rights of unmarried parents. We advise mothers and fathers on all legal and practical issues that arise under the most common scenarios:
- Father has signed an acknowledgement of Paternity in the hospital or shortly after birth, lives with the mother, pays no formal child support.
- Unmarried couple in the situation above breaks up and mother needs child support.
- Alleged father denies that the child is his, but refuses paternity testing.
- Alleged father signed an acknowledgement of Paternity, but later wants to withdraw it.
- Unmarried father has neither acknowledged paternity nor been named in a paternity action, no child support order has been established, and someone else wants to adopt the child.
- Father wants to establish visitation rights or shared custody in response to a paternity action, especially if his relationship with the mother has ended or is unstable.
- Father paying child support after a determination of paternity wants to establish custodial or visitation rights over the mother's objection.
- Unmarried father with visitation rights is charged with domestic violence and is served with an order for protection.
- Child support enforcement actions against unmarried fathers in default of payment obligations.
- Action is initiated to terminate an unmarried father's parental rights.
With more than 25 years of family law experience, Albany paternity law attorney Gloria Arroyo Copland can help unmarried parents stabilize and strengthen their relationships with their children while finding effective ways to meet the legal and practical challenges that can come up along the way.
Capital District Fathers' Rights Lawyers: Call 518-213-3740 or 866-315-1658
To learn more about the ways you can benefit from our experience across a wide range of problems encountered by unmarried parents, contact the Albany paternity law attorneys of Arroyo Copland & Associates, PLLC
