Belleair Beach Father’s Rights and Paternity Attorneys
Parenting is hard, especially if you must clear legal issues before actively contributing to your child’s life. This is why our Belleair Beach father’s rights attorney is passionate about offering our legal expertise to help you establish your rights as a father.
Law Office of Kerya L. Koeut, P.A. aims to help you fill your vital role as a provider and nurturer in your child’s upbringing by handling any legal impediments that stop you from doing so. Whether you are a divorced father seeking to have decision-making power or an unmarried father who wants his visitation rights, we can assist in your legal battle. Our lawyers can also help if you want to contest or denounce your paternity.
Florida has a strict legal procedure that needs to be precisely followed in every paternity case. Men are legally recognized as a child’s father if his name appears on the birth certificate or if his paternity is verified and legitimized through a court order. For unmarried fathers, this mostly means that you first have to take a DNA test to prove your biological relationship to the child.
Regardless of the particulars of your case, trust that Law Office of Kerya L. Koeut, P.A. can lead you toward a favorable court decision. We’ll exhaust all legal ways to quickly get your desired results, clarifying your rights and responsibilities as a father or lack thereof.
Call Law Office of Kerya L. Koeut, P.A. at (727) 866-4272 for a Free Consultation with a Belleair Beach Father’s Rights Attorney!
Obtaining Paternal Rights
Even if you and the child’s mother know that you are the father, if you are unmarried, Florida does not automatically give you visitation rights or final decision-making powers unless established by a court order. This remains true even if you’re already listed as the child’s father on the legal birth certificate.
Unmarried fathers seeking to establish paternity need to have it legitimized by the court, which can be done through the following four primary methods:
- Sign the Acknowledgment of Paternity while the child is born at the hospital. You may also submit this form later.
- Obtain an administrative order based on the DNA test result.
- Obtain a court order signed by a judge.
- Marry the child’s mother after birth and update the child’s birth record.
Additionally, remember that Florida family law requires fathers to demonstrate their readiness and willingness to support and actively participate in their children’s lives. Our Belleair Beach father’s rights attorney can help you do this compellingly. Once we’ve successfully established your paternity, we will then help you finalize a custody plan and time-sharing schedule with your child’s mother.
The Importance of Legally Protecting Your Relationship
Being a father is not only in legal records but is also a lifelong responsibility. This is why Florida law follows explicitly a rigid procedure for establishing paternity to ensure that it is in the child’s best interest to have the father legally recognized.
Moreover, our Belleair Beach father’s rights attorney is not only concerned about having you legally named as your child’s father. More importantly, we aim to protect your rights, which include the ability to visit your child and decide on essential matters in their life. Having these agreements legitimized and enforceable by the court will allow you to become an active father even if the mother has unreasonable claims to deny you.
An unmarried father can have informal agreements with the child’s mother regarding visitation and decision-making matters. However, without court approval, the mother can always not acknowledge the agreement, leaving the father with no legal basis to fight her wishes.
If the mother isn’t willing to let you actively fill your role as a father, you must let your rights be recognized and asserted through the legal system. This way, the mother cannot stop you from being involved in your child’s life as long as your presence does not harm the child.
Law Office of Kerya L. Koeut, P.A. will thoroughly evaluate your situation and identify all the necessary steps to secure your father’s rights. We’ll work efficiently and accurately to establish your paternity and make sure that the other party will follow the court’s order on your visitation and time-sharing rights.
Call Law Office of Kerya L. Koeut, P.A. at (727) 866-4272 to protect the relationship you rightfully deserve with your child!
Divorced Father’s Rights
Unlike unmarried fathers, divorced fathers have already lived with and experienced deciding for their children, which is an advantage. The mother should respect this status quo and allow the father to still have an active and meaningful relationship with his children after divorce.
However, there are instances where the mother wouldn’t want to respect the divorced father’s rights to his children once the divorce is finalized. Thankfully, there are provisions in Florida family law that can protect your rights.
Our lawyer can help report this issue to the court, monitor the proceedings, and proactively fight for your rights. It’s our goal to help you maintain a strong connection and loving relationship with your child, even if your marriage unfortunately ended.
Contesting Established Paternity
Aside from helping legally protect fathers’ rights, our Belleair Beach fathers’ rights attorneys are also equipped to help contest a man’s paternity. There are sad instances where fathers found evidence that the child they first thought was theirs isn’t. Law Office of Kerya L. Koeut, P.A. can help you get to the bottom of this.
Florida family law does not make it complicated for men to contest their paternity. You only have to file a petition for “disestablishment of paternity” and termination of the child support order. As a supporting document, you must also present a paternity test result within 90 days.
If there is an existing child support arrangement, your petition should be filed in the court with jurisdiction over the support order. The child’s mother or guardian and the Florida Department of Revenue will receive a copy of this petition. If there’s no existing child support order, you can file the petition in the court where the mother lives. However, if the child’s mother already resides in another state, you can file the petition in a court where you live.
Certain conditions must be met for the court to approve the disestablishment of paternity. These include:
- The father was unaware that the child was not biologically his when the paternity was established.
- The paternity test was done accurately and produced 100% accurate results.
- The paternity test result proved that the identified father is not the child’s biological father.
- The identified father consistently provided child support payments on time.
- The identified father has not legally adopted the child.
- The child was not conceived via artificial insemination while the identified father and the child’s mother were married.
- The identified father did not stop the biological father from exercising his rights as a parent. The petition for
- disestablishment of paternity was filed while the child was still a minor.
To make sure that your petition is filed with accurate information and complete documents, let Law Office of Kerya L. Koeut, P.A. handle it for you. Our lawyer will also ensure that your paternity test is conducted in a court-approved facility and that all parties are promptly notified of the results.
Consultation with a Belleair Beach Father’s Rights Attorney
Every child deserves to feel the love and protection from both their parents. That is why if you are a father whose paternity is not yet legitimized and you’re ready to become an active part of your child’s life, you owe it to yourself and your child to do what it takes to establish and exercise your rights as a father.
Law Office of Kerya L. Koeut, P.A. can help you do this! With years of practicing Florida family law, our lawyers can offer comprehensive and proactive legal assistance to help secure your rights as a biological father. It’s our job to ensure that you get reasonable visitation, child custody, and child support arrangements that are not only favorable to you but especially beneficial for your child.
Moreover, we can also help contest your established paternity. So, regardless of your specific issue involving your rights as a father, don’t hesitate to get in touch. We’d love to answer all your queries and offer the most suitable legal solutions to resolve your concerns.
Call Law Office of Kerya L. Koeut, P.A. at (727) 866-4272 today for a Free Phone Consultation with a Belleair Beach Father’s Rights Attorney!