Legal Question in Family Law in California

My wife and I had our first child before she was divorced from her first husband (it was a lengthy divorce). Under Calif. law, she was not allowed to put my name on the birth certificate because she was still married to another man, so she left the father blank. After her divorce was finalized, we got married. We now want to get my name on the birth certificate as father of this child, which means we need to legally establish my paternity, I think by court order. There are no messy support / custody issues since we are now married. It seems like it should be a pretty straightforward process, but none of the self-help guides I have found address this particular situation. Can anyone lay out what we need to do, so we can figure out if we can do it ourselves or if we need to get a lawyer?

Thanks,


Asked on 7/05/11, 2:01 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Isi Mataele 'Isi Mataele Attorney at Law

File for paternity and get that established and then file for a change of name.

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Answered on 7/05/11, 10:04 pm

You were given bum advice about establishing your paternity at birth, but in any case, if there is no legally recorded father in the public records, then I am pretty certain you can just file a mutual voluntary declaration of paternity. Once that is on record you can file for an amended birth certificate. More information is available here: http://www.childsup.ca.gov/Resources/EstablishPaternity/FileaDeclarationofPaternity/tabid/102/Default.aspx

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Answered on 7/08/11, 4:19 pm


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