California has very clear laws about parental responsibilities, including child support, for biological or adopted children. A family law or paternity attorney is always recommended if: 

• Someone claims you are the father of a child, but you don’t believe you are.
• You suspect you are the father, and the mother is denying your parental rights.
• Your relationship with the child(ren)’s mother is contentious or combative, and you want to set clear guidelines and legally binding agreements in the future.

Benefits Of Hiring A Family Law Attorney Or Paternity Lawyer

The longer you wait to hire a family lawyer and resolve any potential paternity conflicts, the better. Here are some of the many benefits of hiring a paternity lawyer for professional and objective support.

Support your child’s emotional well-being

First and foremost, creating a clear path to establishing paternity (or the lack thereof) is essential to your child’s emotional well-being. In most cases, paternity cases occur when the child is in the first one to two years of life. Even so, children are significantly impacted by any anger, drama, strain, or tension between the adults in their lives. 

In some cases, this may mean that you are out of the loop because the paternity test proved you were not the father. In other cases, we’ll help you move forward by honoring your legal and emotional obligations for a healthy relationship with your child. If you find out you are the father of an older child, consider working with a family therapist to help you bond and work through challenging emotions as they arise.

Use child custody mediation instead of a trial

Child custody battles are costly on every front: financially, energetically, and emotionally. They should be avoided if at all possible. Pursuing child custody mediation is a very affordable way for you and the child’s other parent to navigate all of the current decisions – and to help you both create longer-term co-parenting agreements (See #5) in a calm, straightforward way. Plus, working with a mediator can save you thousands of dollars.

Working with a neutral, third-party family law mediator ensures you both have all of the information you need, along with experienced insight into how a judge would likely decide things in the courtroom. Thus, you can navigate the child support, custody, visitation, and other legal agreements as efficiently and drama-free as possible.

Get clear and current with financial child support responsibilities

California family law courts take a very black-and-white approach when it comes to child custody. If you are the father – whether you knew about it or not – you are responsible for child support payments. Period. 

This includes back payment for the time between when the child was born and the present. You should know that back child support payments in CA are charged at 10% interest by the state, and that is payable to the custodial parent. Not clarifying what you owe and how to pay it is one of the biggest child support mistakes you can make.

Time is of the essence here. With the support of a paternity attorney, we can work with you to complete the CA child support calculator (and legally obtain the other parent’s financial records if they’re not cooperating) so you can begin taking care of your financial responsibility.

In cases where fathers find out months or even years later that they are fathers, a timely response yields a more favorable view from the judges. This can help you when it’s time to craft child custody and visitation schedules. 

Create legal child custody and visitation agreements

The courts are very supportive of both parents having ample time with their children, whether they were married or in a relationship with the other parent or not. Having legal child custody agreements and visitation schedules is essential. It creates the scaffold for predictability, consistency, and routine for the child. Of course, life happens and there may be variances that are agreed upon (always get them in writing via email or text record) but that court schedule should serve as the foundation for collaborative co-parenting.

NOTE: If you feel the safety of the child is in question as the result of physical, emotional, or verbal abuse OR due to substance abuse/mental health issues, your family law or paternity lawyer can also help you file an emergency child custody order to protect your child’s best interests.

Set the stage for positive (or at least neutral) co-parenting

It’s not easy co-parenting with another adult, especially as the adults move on with their lives. However, all of the studies prove that adults who can rise above the conflicts/tension, focusing on the child’s well-being and smooth co-parenting exponentially benefit their child.

Children with parents who get along or at least cooperate around their child’s lives:

• Do better in school.
• Have reduced risks of depression, anxiety, or behavioral issues.
• Form healthier and more stable relationships with their peers.
• Sleep better.
• Are more confident and have a better sense of self.
• Never feel torn between being loyal or protective of either parent.

Your paternity attorney can help you work with the child’s other parent to create co-parenting agreements that outline the preferred methods of communication, child support payments, vacation notice, etc.

The Law Offices of Gerard A. Falzone Can Support Your Paternity Process

Contact the law office of Gerard A. Falzone to learn more about how we can support you as you establish paternity and begin navigating the legal paperwork and filing associated with child support, custody, and visitation. We’ve spent the last 40 years helping Bay Area parents create co-parenting plans that support everyone’s well-being without the drama and trauma typically associated with these types of scenarios.