Legal Question in Family Law in California
birth certificate rights for the father
If I don't want to put the fathers name on the birth certificate but he says that if i don't do it he'll have to open up a case and do it anyways, should i just put it on there? I'm wondering if maybe he's pressuring me to do it so he doesn't have to open a case because when he got me pregnant I was 17 and he was 20. Could the Judge look at that like a negative thing on his part?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: birth certificate rights for the father
You don't have to put his name on the birth certificate. If he opens the paternity case it will establish he is the father. It does not automatically add his name to the birth certificate. If he does file a paternity suit you should consider retaining an attorney regarding the issue of the child's name.
Re: birth certificate rights for the father
It sounds like he wants to be the child's father officially and if you don't put his name on the birth certificate, he would ask the court by way of a "Paternity Suit" to find that he is the father through DNA.
A judge is not going to look at the circumstances of the impregnation but would simply find that he is the father if the DNA test came back that he was.
So, you might as well put him down. Now, this means that he could get visitation rights to his child and on the other hand, you can ask the court to order him to pay child support.
Good Luck.
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