Single parenthood, in recent years, has been increasing dramatically. Every year, there are more than a million children who were born to unmarried parents. This is becoming an issue when talking about a child’s mental and emotional development. Especially in cases involving the child’s legal rights and legitimacy, proving the paternity has been very crucial. If the child’s parents cannot establish paternity, their child will grow up not having a legitimate father. This will, later on, raise concerns of discrimination between non-marital children and those children who were born to married parents particularly in the issue of inheritance. The Texas Family Code enumerated the instances where paternity is already presumed. When the child was born during the marriage, paternity has already been established between the father and child. All the conditions stated provide that the parents should be or has been married. One should go through a legal proceeding in order to establish the paternity of the alleged father of a child born out of wedlock. How to Prove Paternity The most common way to test paternity is through DNA testing. This is done by obtaining a tissue or blood sample from the child and from the alleged biological father. Physical characteristics say a lot in identifying that a man could be the father of a child. However, DNA testing is the most plausible method in establishing paternity. Although it may be costly, the results would be reliable. The court acknowledges this as solid evidence. Producing legal documents can also help to prove paternity. An example is a birth certificate which provides the name of the man who is allegedly the father. Another possibility that could be used as proof is to show that the alleged father claims the child as his dependent. This is usually proven in payment of […]
