Wisonsin Paternity Law

[rainbow81]

I have an question about paternity in the state of Wisconsin. The scenario is like this.

A woman gives birth to a child while she is spearated from the bilogical father. She re-marries some one else. Can the second husband claim paternity, or does paternity stay with the biological father.

I need a response as soon as possbile.

Thanks

[aaron]

What exactly are you asking? If the mother can fraudulently misrepresent her second husband as the father?

Was she still married to the biological father when the child was born? Does the biological father know that the child is his? Is he named on the child's birth certificate? What does the divorce judgment say about the child and paternity?

[rainbow81]

The child was born soon after she re-married. My question is, can the second husband go about fling for adoption of this child, now that he is married to the mother of this baby. Or does paternity strickly belong to the biological father alone? I presume the bilogical father knows abt his childs birth.

If he can go forward with adoption, what is the procedure in Wisconsin?

[jojo4]

If the biological father is the legal father (which, it seems he as the child was concieved during the marriage?) the new spouse cannot just adopt the child. The biolgical, legal father will either have to voluntarily consent to termination of parental rights and adoption or a court will have to terminate those parental rights and grant the adoption.

Marriage does not give the new spouse any legal parental rights.

Is that what you were asking? Your questions were pretty vague.

[rainbow81]

OK, I was trying to get the facts straight. Parties are from Wisconsin.

This woman had a relationship with a guy who is 20 yrs elder to her. They did not get married. But they had a child. Before she gave birth to this child, she left this guy (left him when she was pregnant with his child)

She recently got married to another guy and a week later, gave birth to her child. The biological father knows about his child, but does not have any contact with her whatsoever.

I was told by someone that in Wisconsin, the law is such that the biological father does not have any legal right over the child if he was not legally married with the mother of the child. In turn, if the mother legally marries someone else later, that person would automatically have right to be the father of the child, even though he is not the biological father, because of the legal marriage. I know it sounds weird. But this person who told me seemed very sure about what she was talking about.

All this mother wants is for her child to have her present husband's name.

All I want to know is if there is such a law prevailing in Wisconsin. If there is such a law, where can I find it and if there is a statute to the contrary, pls let me know. I also want to know which Wisconsin State Statute talks on this subject.

I hope I didn't confuse you further. Thanks

[aaron]

An overview of Wisconsin paternity law can be found here. You seem to be referencing this:

If the parents marry after their child is born, the parents may fill out an Acknowledgment of Marital Child (Legitimation) form and have it notarized. The correctly-filed form gives the child and the father the same rights as if the parents had married before the child was born. The form is available from child support agencies and from the Wisconsin Office of Vital Records.

Note, however, that this requires a notarized statement asserting that the husband is in fact the biological father.

[rainbow81]

Thank you for that information, I will check the link.