Divorce Advice for Men | Fathers Rights Divorce | Child Custody

By Robin W. Klein

Mens Divorce Attorney, Cordell and Cordell

Paternity law is a complex area of law that frequently discriminates against fathers rights.

It's not uncommon for family law attorneys to have clients with children that have never been married to the mother nor been to court who simply have verbal agreements about who pays what and who gets to see the child when.

In these situations, the mothers have all the power since unwed fathers generally have few rights to their children.

So if you are an unwed dad, here is what you should expect in terms of child support, parenting time, health insurance costs, etc., if your child's mother finally takes you to court to have a judge formalize your relationship.

Question:

How do child support laws work when going through a divorce and I am not the biological father of my wife's child though she gave birth while we were married?

My wife had the child with another man, but our son knows me and considers me to be his dad. Will I pay child support for him?

Question:

My wife had a child before we were married though I have raised him almost my entire life and he knows me as his dad.

Now that we are getting a divorce do I have any parental rights or visitation rights to the child even though I am not the biological father?

Question:

My ex-wife had a child by another man shortly after we divorced. My name was allegedly put on the child's birth certificate by the state because we had not been divorced for at least 10 months when the child was born.

The biological father has taken a paternity test and was proven to be the father, but he signed over his parental rights to the state as did my ex-wife.

My ex-wife now claims her caseworker told her that I'm the only one with parental rights to the child and she wants me to terminate them so she can reclaim custody.

How can I find out if I'm on the birth certificate and if I have rights to this child, who we all agree is not my biological son?

Victims of false accusations of paternity include not only the accused man but also the biological father and the child.

This epidemic inspired Marcus L. Matthews to share his story and the stories of four other men who were falsely accused of paternity in his new book "I Am Not The Father: Narratives of Men Falsely Accused of Paternity."

Matthews talked with DadsDivorce.com editor Matt Allen about the devastating effects false accusations of paternity have on men and how making a spectacle of revealing paternity tests on TV shows has caused the issue to be taken lightly.

You can find out more information about Marcus and his book at marcuslmatthews.com.

Click the link for the full audio version of the podcast on false allegations of paternity.