[beckilong]

My question involves paternity law for the State of: Georgia

At the time of my daughters birth, we assumed that the current father on the birth certificate was the bio father. Recently we found out through DNA testing that is admissable in court, that he is not. We would like to take his name off the birth certificate. Do i need to go through court to get this taken care of or is there a simpler less expensive way to get this done? Also, do i need to have the bio father put his name on the certificate since there will be no father present on there?

[beckilong]

well since this one hasnt been addressed yet ill add another question, or two, that i have now.
The bio-father is determined to deny all rights to our child. Do we have to have the "Assumed" fathers name off the certificate before we can sign or do anything? He is telling me that any notarized document in Georgia can be used in court. What the bio dad and I plan on doing is writing something up saying he wont go for custody later on and i wont go after him for money and just have it notarized. is this really all we have to do? Also, my child has recently become sick and they are doing tests to try to figure out what is wrong. With that going on, Ive told him that I want it somewhere in our agreement that if in cases of emergency, i.e. transplants or blood transfusions, I could contact him for this matter, other than that, Im not allowed to ever contact him concerning our daughter. Will this have any bad reprecussions in the future?

[Mr. Knowitall]

What does "we assumed" mean? That you assumed and told the man that he was the only possible father, or that he knew he might not be the father, but signed anyway?

(a) The appearance of the name or social security account number of the father, entered with his written consent, on the certificate of birth or a certified copy of such certificate or records on which the name of the alleged father was entered with his written consent from the vital records department of another state or the registration of the father, entered with his written consent, in the putative father registry of this state, pursuant to subsection (d) of Code Section 19-11-9, shall constitute a prima-facie case of establishment of paternity and the burden of proof shall shift to the putative father to rebut such in a proceeding for the determination of paternity.

(b) When both the mother and father have signed a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity and the acknowledgment is recorded in the putative father registry established by subsection (d) of Code Section 19-11-9, the acknowledgment shall constitute a legal determination of paternity, subject to the right of any signatory to rescind the acknowledgment prior to the date of the support order, any other order adjudicating paternity, or 60 days from the signing of the agreement, whichever is earlier. Recording such information in the putative father registry shall constitute a legal determination of paternity for purposes of establishing a future order for support, visitation privileges, and other matters under Code Section 19-7-51. Acknowledgment of paternity shall not constitute a legal determination of legitimation pursuant to Code Section 19-7-21.1 or 19-7-22.

(c) After the 60 day rescission period specified in subsection (b) of this Code section, the signed voluntary acknowledgment of paternity may be challenged in court only on the basis of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact, with the burden of proof on the person challenging the acknowledgment. The legal responsibilities of any signatory, including child support obligations, arising from the acknowledgment may not be suspended during the challenge, except for good cause shown.

If you do convince a court to set aside the voluntary acknowledgment of paternity, you can bring a paternity action against the biological father. His wish not to pay support is not relevant. I personally thing it's irresponsible to try to throw that type of barrier between your daughter and her biological father, without regard to her material or emotional needs.

[beckilong]

he knew also that he wasnt the only option for being her father. to put it bluntly, one possible father is white and one is black. when my daughter came out fair skinned, and having a few features looking like one, we assumed he was the father. i dont deny we should have done a paternity test in the beginning but he said he didnt need one and i was of the mindset id rather pay for diapers than a paternity test that he didnt need. is this going to cause a problem in court because we didnt get the paternity test to begin with??


her bio dad is married, obviously not to me, and doesnt want to lose his marriage over all of this. im also not one to force someone to be someone or to take on responsibilities if they dont want it. so whether you find it irresponsible or not is irrelevent. i was primarily just worried about the legal reprecussions.

[distressedmom]

Both parents have an obligation to support their child, regardless of their home "situation". It took me a long time to come to that conclusion. I protected my child's father because I didn't want to disrupt his current situation. But my child was paying the price, and I had an obligation to my child's needs over the other parent.

March down to the local child support office next week and fill out the paperwork to establish paternity and get an order for support. A lot of states will let you fill out an application on-line. You owe it to the child.