Paternity
What does "Paternity" mean in law?
Paternity is the legal establishment of a father-child relationship, which triggers rights and obligations including child support, custody, visitation, inheritance, and access to the father's medical insurance and benefits. Paternity may be established voluntarily through an acknowledgment of paternity signed at the hospital or later, or involuntarily through a court action typically initiated by the mother, the alleged father, or the state (often through a child support enforcement agency). Genetic testing (DNA analysis) is admissible and often conclusive in paternity proceedings, with most jurisdictions applying a presumption of paternity when test results show a 99% or greater probability of biological fatherhood. Many states also recognize a marital presumption of paternity, under which a child born during a marriage is presumed to be the biological child of the mother's husband.
Definition
Paternity is the legal establishment of a father-child relationship, which triggers rights and obligations including child support, custody, visitation, inheritance, and access to the father's medical insurance and benefits. Paternity may be established voluntarily through an acknowledgment of paternity signed at the hospital or later, or involuntarily through a court action typically initiated by the mother, the alleged father, or the state (often through a child support enforcement agency). Genetic testing (DNA analysis) is admissible and often conclusive in paternity proceedings, with most jurisdictions applying a presumption of paternity when test results show a 99% or greater probability of biological fatherhood. Many states also recognize a marital presumption of paternity, under which a child born during a marriage is presumed to be the biological child of the mother's husband.
Example
After DNA testing confirmed a 99.98% probability that the defendant was the biological father, the court entered a paternity judgment establishing him as the legal father and ordering him to pay child support retroactive to the date of the child's birth.