Rights of Unwed Fathers in California
Posted on Jul 6, 2020 8:00am PDT
“One-in-four parents living with a child in the United States today
are unmarried. Driven by declines in marriage overall, as well as increases
in births outside of marriage, this marks a dramatic change from a half-century
ago, when fewer than one-in-ten parents living with their children were
unmarried (7%),” according to
Pew Research Center.
“Due primarily to the rising number of cohabiting parents, the share
of unmarried parents who are fathers has more than doubled over the past
50 years. Now, 29% of all unmarried parents who reside with their children
are fathers, compared with just 12% in 1968.”
Given the dramatic shift in the percentage of married parents, many questions
have risen about the rights of unwed fathers. Do unmarried fathers have
any child custody rights? In this article, we address this question in detail.
No Paternity, No Father’s Rights
When a child is born to unmarried parents, the child’s mother has
sole legal and physical custody of her child. “Legal custody”
refers to making important decisions on a child’s behalf, such as
those concerning education, childcare, healthcare, and religious upbringing.
On the other hand, “physical custody” refers to having the
child in one’s actual care. While an unmarried mother has these
rights, the biological father has none until
paternity is established.
What does this all mean?
- The father is not obligated to pay child support;
- The mother can’t demand child support;
- The father can’t demand custody;
- The father can’t ask the court for custody;
- The mother has sole discretion on who sees her child and when;
- The father is encouraged to help the mom out financially; and
- If the father doesn’t risk the child’s safety and well-being,
the mother should encourage the father to bond with the child and develop
a relationship with them, even if the court has yet to issue a child custody order.
Establishing Paternity in Fresno
To “establish paternity” is to determine who a child’s
legal father is. This is generally done by both parents signing a
Voluntary Declaration of Paternity (usually at the hospital after the child’s birth), or by asking
for a court-ordered DNA test.
Until paternity is established, the father has zero rights and responsibilities
toward his child and the family courts cannot issue orders for child support
or child custody. If you’re interested in opening a paternity,
child support, or
child custody case,
contact Arnold Law Group, APC.