Legal Question in Family Law in Tennessee

Re: birth father's name not listed on birth certificate

Talk to a local attorney about filing a petition to determine parentage.

Re: birth father's name not listed on birth certificate

If there's a father named on the birth certificate, that person signed a document admitting paternity, called a voluntary acknowlegment form. In the court's eyes he is the father. The court's don't like delegitimizing a child. Additionally, the child has grown up thinking, the person named on her birth certificate is the father.

To persuade a court to consider the possiblity exists that someone other than the person named on the birth certficate is the father wold take a petition to establish parentage. This would involve getting dad & mom into court and persuading the judge to order DNA testing. Most judges don't like doing that because: 1) The child is 10 years old; 2) There is no real basis for the relief other than the parents not in the childs life. The other way is have each of you submit to a private DNA test and then submit the results to the court in a petiton.

Both are difficult, but not impossible. I can help. 423 266-4855