Paternity can be a complex issue, and it’s one of the most difficult parts of establishing parenting rights for many people. There are often complex issues in play when paternity is not known, and it can be tough on the children as well as the adults involved in these cases. Having a legal expert working on your case is crucial for many reasons when you need to embark on a paternity journey.
A skilled family lawyer in St. Louis is a key aspect of your paternity suit. They will help you with every aspect of this complex case, whether you are the parent trying to establish paternity or the mother of the child.
The Reasons That You Need a Family Lawyer to Establish Paternity For Your Child
1. Protection of Your Interests
There are often a lot of competing desires and demands that are part of paternity cases. Both parents have their own goals out of the situation, and the children are often caught in the middle. When the parent who is establishing paternity has other goals than the stated goals of the mother, this can lead to disputes that are harmful to the child. Since children are often nearly forgotten along the way in these cases, having a family law expert working on your case can also ensure that your child’s rights and needs are not forgotten.
Protecting the interests of the party that has secured legal support is the job of every family law expert. You shouldn’t consider handling either side of this kind of legal case without the help of a legal expert due to the many benefits of having their knowledge and wisdom on your side.
2. Guidance Regarding DNA Testing
DNA testing is often a part of the process of establishing paternity in these cases. Both parents can sign an Affidavit that acknowledges parentage at any time, even if this documentation was not created at the time of the birth, but that is often not the course that is taken by those establishing parentage. Since parentage can be called into question for a variety of reasons, on either side of the case, it is often critical to do a DNA test.
Having a legal expert involved in a case that requires a DNA test matters so that the results are collected properly and are conclusive enough to prove or disprove paternity.
3. Filing of Necessary Petitions and Documentation
In the state of Missouri, either parent can file a petition with the state court or with the Missouri Family Support Division to establish paternity. The petition will be filed in the circuit court where the child or co-parent lives. This process is best handled by a legal expert as it is not as simple as just checking a box on a form.
Many people are motivated to try to handle legal processes on their own to save money, but this often does not end well due to the complexity of these kinds of cases. There is a lot of paperwork associated with this kind of legal case, and you need to be sure that you do not leave this important documentation up to chance.
4. Handling Tough Situations
There are often a lot of emotions involved in cases to determine paternity. Both the mother and potential father might have a lot of negative feelings about the details of the case and the child often feels caught in the middle and left out of all the decision making regarding their future. These various viewpoints often clash, which can lead to major disagreements and fighting that is detrimental to the progression of the case.
Having an experienced family law professional involved in your case can help avoid these kinds of issues and keep the progression of the case going in the right direction, even when the going gets tough. It can be helpful to have an objective third party involved in your paternity case for so many reasons.
5. Child Support and Custodial Agreements
When paternity is established, work will also need to be done to create a parenting plan and a custodial agreement that will take care of the child’s needs until they are legally an adult. This means that your lawyer will be able to advocate for your child’s needs with regard to their schedule and their care, and on the other side of things, a legal professional can fight for equitable 50/50 parenting time. This is often the ideal way to handle the creation of this critical agreement, as it is rare for parents to agree on parenting time or the child’s needs.
Child support will typically be paid to the primary custodial parent, but if the paternity test should alter where the child resides, this might mean that the other parent will suddenly need to start paying child support. All of these considerations can be very stressful for both the adults and the child involved in the case, which is why having a skilled lawyer on hand can be extremely helpful.
Hiring a Family Law Professional Can Allow You to Navigate Establishing Paternity With Ease
If you are about to embark on the process of establishing paternity for your child on either side of this issue, you need to get a skilled lawyer to help you with this process right away. There is almost no way to handle paternity cases without legal support, and the sooner that you get this kind of support in place, the easier it will be to get the necessary testing and legal documentation taken care of. You can count on your lawyer to help make this process easier for you and your child.
Having legal support ensures that your paternity case will not run into issues that cause delays, confusion, and stress for your child. You will also be able to correctly handle all the documentation that is part of this kind of case so that your child will know who their parents are without question.
