Legalizing the Paternity of a Deceased Father

[Sunshyne77177]

My question involves paternity law for the State of: Kentucky


The children were born in Kentucky but we currently reside in Maine.

My children's father and I were never married and at the time Kentucky law did not allow the placement of his name on the children's birth certificates until paternity was established (I believe this was the reason give).

We began court proceedings to determine custody rights, etc and I have DNA results showing him as the father but custody and parental agreements were never completed and he is now deceased.

I have his death certificate.

We will be doing some traveling in foreign countries and I'd like to have my paperwork in order so that I don't get caught up with a lot of questions in reference to a single parent with children.

How do I petition the state of Kentucky to add the father's name to the birth certificate? (This will make the death certificate hold validity since at this point I have little even showing our connection to him!)

I am also going to petition for name changes for the children to give them connection to me so it is even more important that all paperwork end up being accurate. Is there a form I will have to file for their name change to a birth certificate as well?

[Mr. Knowitall]

Why weren't the legal proceedings completed? How long ago was that?

[Sunshyne77177]

He was an on again off again father and I finalized child support legalities but he kept dragging the court proceedings out for custody. Perhaps money, his current relationship etc kept getting in the way. During one of his long episodes of not being in the picture, I ended up moving to Maine and he later brought me back to Kentucky for custody hearings that kept being put off. I have preliminary hearing paperwork but nothing final. In the meantime, while awaiting court dates his relationship with his wife went south and he took his own life. Sadly the children were left without a father to eventually have known but now I must get this paperwork straightened out.

I might add that in Kentucky, when parents are not married at the time of birth, the father must show paternity then may either petition the court for his name to be added to the birth certificate or to the state. Either way, he's no longer around and I'm not sure how I can go about adding him. Social security acknowledges his DNA results but my main concern is getting passports for the children to travel out of country and having easily understood documentation to cross borders without questions.

Sorry, I didn't answer your last question. The father passed away in Oct 2007. I was scheduled to appear in court within a few months of that.