Houston Paternity Action Attorney
Whether you are looking to establish child support from the father of your child, or you’re the father seeking visitation or joint custody, you may need to seek the assistance of a paternity action attorney to make sure your case is successful. Issues of paternity can be highly contested on both sides when a child is born outside a marriage. It is crucial that the proper steps are taken to legally establish and enforce paternity.
Gregory Law PLLC has extensive experience filing paternity actions in Houston, on behalf of mothers, fathers, and children alike. We will ensure that paternity is properly established and that child support, visitation and/or custody are enforced. If you or someone you know is considering a paternity action in the Houston area, contact Gregory Law PLLC now at (713) 861-1293 so we can help you bring a successful conclusion to your paternity issues.
Do I Need a Lawyer for a Paternity Action?
A paternity action is more than just a test of biological paternity. In fact, paternity actions do not require a DNA test at all if the father does not contest the paternity. Paternity actions establish legal fatherhood, which opens the doors for the father to demand visitation or custody rights, as well as pay child support. Mothers and fathers can benefit from lawyers for paternity actions in different ways.
Mothers may need a lawyer to demand a DNA paternity test in the first place. A lawyer will know what to say to convince a judge to order a paternity test. After paternity has been established, the mother may need a lawyer if she wants to retain sole custody of her child, or if she wants to come to a reasonable agreement for joint custody. A lawyer can help advocate for her rights in either case. A lawyer can also help the mother provide evidence and make arguments that she requires child support from the father.
Similarly, once paternity has been established, a father may need a lawyer if he wants to try to gain visitation rights, joint custody, or sole custody. A lawyer will be able to help a father demonstrate to the court that he can provide for the child’s needs and that the child would benefit from having the father in their life. Furthermore, if the mother is demanding that the father pay child support, a lawyer can ensure that the amount is reasonable.
Why Choose Gregory Law PLLC?
At Gregory Law PLLC, we understand how important a paternity action is, and how complicated and emotional the process can be for all involved. As a firm with Texas roots, we want to help the families in our communities thrive. We work tirelessly to make sure you get the right result without undue stress and emotional burden.
We also bring a long history of successful paternity action cases that we can draw on to get the results right for you and your child. Founder Myrna Gregory has been practicing family law in the Houston area for three decades, allowing her and her colleagues to draw on vast amounts of experience and legal knowledge to help you successfully purue your claims.
What a Paternity Action Can Accomplish
Paternity action cases are complex partly because they can involve seemingly conflicting goals for the same action. Depending on who is pursuing the claim, they may have different aims they want to accomplish. Some actions that are possible during a paternity action include:
- Establishing visitation rights to see a child: Many fathers discover after the birth of their child that they are not welcome and are not being offered the chance to see their child. We can help you establish paternity legally so you can pursue and receive visitation rights that allow you to build a relationship with your child.
- Establishing joint custody: Some fathers want more than every other weekend with their child. Once paternity has been established, you can pursue joint custody with the child’s mother if you can demonstrate that this is in the child’s best interests.
- Establishing sole custody:Â Sometimes, mothers are unfit to raise their children. In these cases, it is vital that you immediately pursue a paternity action and attempt to establish sole custody to protect your child. This will require demonstrating that the mother is unfit and that you can provide a safe and happy home for your child.
- Modifying custody or visitation rights: You may have unofficially worked out some version of custody or visitation of your child without going to court, but this agreement has no legal weight. If you want to renegotiate this agreement, you will need to establish official legal paternity and create a binding legal agreement in court.
- Collecting child support: Mothers have a right to collect child support if the father of the child is not in the household and providing assistance. However, to get child support, you must first prove paternity.
- Collecting other benefits: It may be possible to put your child under the insurance policy of the father, or to secure other similar benefits, but only if the father has been established through a paternity action.
No matter what you hope to achieve through your paternity action, we can help you. Contact us to speak more about the specifics of your claim, so we can start working towards the best result for your family.
Contact Us
Your child deserves to have the assistance of their father in their lives, whether through financial child support or via a real father-child relationship established through visitation or custody. In order to give your child what they deserve, you may need to pursue a paternity action.
If you or someone you know is considering a paternity action in Houston, Gregory Law PLLC can help. Call us at (713) 861-1293 to discuss what our child support and custody lawyers can do for you.