Competitive St. Louis Area Paternity Attorneys
Rights and Responsibilities of Unmarried Parents Under Missouri Family Law
When a child is born within a marriage, Missouri's family laws regarding paternity presume the husband is the father. If he doesn't want to take financial responsibility for a child (who may not be his biological child), then he must dispute the paternity presumption with a formal paternity action in court.
There is no presumption of paternity if the alleged father of a minor child has never been married to the mother and if the alleged father never signed an acknowledgement of paternity form or consistently acted as if the child was his. In cases involving unmarried parents, the mother may bring a paternity action to formally establish parentage and seek child support. The father may also bring a paternity lawsuit to establish or dispute parentage and seek visitation rights or child custody.
At Jody Wolff & Associates, our paternity lawyers represent mothers and fathers seeking to prove or dispute parentage and establish child support and visitation orders. Our firm has extensive experience in civil litigation and 20 years of experience in family law.
Our practice includes:
- Investigating and establishing the parent-child relationship
- Filing petitions for child support for unmarried mothers
- Negotiating visitation agreements between unmarried parents
- Suing for child custody on behalf of unmarried fathers
- Defending parental rights
To learn more about your family law rights, contact Jody Wolff & Associates, at 314-862-0505 or online. Discuss your situation with an experienced paternity attorney.
Fathers Who Are the Last to Know
Once a person is established as a father, the court can order child support, retroactive child support and/or reimbursement of birthing costs. Legally, he's treated like a divorced father. The financial consequences of such a judgment can have a huge financial impact on someone who, only recently, became aware of his paternity.
A person who's confronted with a paternity action needs to understand the consequences of a declaration of paternity. At Jody Wolff & Associates, our family law attorneys assist our clients by explaining their options and the impact such a declaration might have on their lives.
Parents Who Want to Be in the Know
Generally, a child's legal custodian has the right to make such decisions about the child's upbringing as his or her education, health care and religious training. This is known as legal custody. An unmarried father may negotiate with or sue the child's mother for shared legal custody. If evidence shows the mother to be an unfit parent, or if shared physical custody would be in the child's best interests, then a family law court may grant the father physical custody (either shared or sole) as well.
The parent with legal custody is forbidden from exercising legal custody rights in a way that would interfere with the other parent's visitation or custody rights. This is the reason a custodial parent's decision to move away with the child becomes a serious legal issue: Relocation threatens the other parent's ability to exercise his or her rights, whether the parents are divorced or were never married.
Contact Our St. Louis Area Family Law and Paternity Lawyers
If you face a paternity issue, contact an experienced Missouri paternity attorney to schedule a consultation.
Jody Wolff & Associates
7710 Carondelet Avenue, Suite 105
Clayton, MO 63105-3319
Phone: 314-862-0505 ▪ Fax: 314-862-3005 ▪ Email
Jody Wolff & Associates, proudly serves the following communities Clayton, St. Louis, St. Charles, Town & Country, Ladue, Olivette, Creve Couer, Kirkwood, Webster Groves, Wildwood, Chesterfield, Ballwin, Manchester, St. Peters, Richmond Heights, Rock Hill, Florissant, Ferguson, Hazelwood, Bridgeton, Maryland Heights including St. Louis County and St. Charles County, Missouri.
