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Unless and until a person is established
legally as the biological father of a child, he has few rights. He cannot
enforce a parenting schedule, make legal decisions related to the child's
upbringing. A
paternity proceeding may be brought at any time after the birth of a child.
Under Wisconsin law, there are several ways that
paternity may be legally established.
- Voluntary Paternity Acknowledgment.
Paternity is presumed if the child was born during a marriage. The husband
is presumed to be the father unless and until that paternity is disproven.
After the birth of your baby,
unmarried fathers and mothers can sign a form that will make sure the
father's name is put on the birth certificate and make him the legal father.
The form is called the Voluntary
Paternity Acknowledgment.
This form can be obtained from the hospital when your baby is born. You may
acquire the form at any time after the child's birth from the child support
agency or register of deeds office in your county. The form must
signed before a notary public and returned to the Vital Records Office in
Madison, Wisconsin.
- Stipulations and Order. Both the mother
and father may agree to establish
paternity by signing a legal agreement that is recorded with
the county. The agreement will adjudicate paternity and may determine legal
custody and/or physical placement and visitation schedules as well. set child support
obligations. To be binding, the agreement must also be incorporated
into a Court order.
- Contested Paternity Proceedings. If the
parents cannot reach an agreement on issues of paternity, Summons and
Complaint may be drafted and served commencing a contested paternity
action. As part of this paternity process, the purported father
may request genetic blood testing to determine whether or not he has been
excluded as the father of the child. For an explanation of blood testing, click
here. Generally, the child support agency will initially pay for the genetic testing. If the testing establishes a high
probability that the man is the father, the Court may order the father to
pay for a portion of the test costs. Wisconsin
Statutes Sections
767.51(3) and 767.62(4) requires that a court to decide all
issues, including custody and placement, in the final adjudication
of paternity.
Paternity and Child Support.
In recent years there has been a major change in Wisconsin's Paternity
statutes. In years predating 2000, child support could be made
retroactive to the date of the child's birth no matter how old the child
was at the time the paternity action was commenced. Currently, Sections
767.51(4) and 767.62(4m) of Wisconsin statutes limit retroactive
child support awards to the date of filing the paternity action.
It is important to recognize the
magnitude of this change. It effectively reverses the 1997 Wisconsin
Court of Appeals case, In re the Paternity of Brad Michael L.,
where 15 years of retroactive child support were awarded despite the
fact the mother had denied paternity to the child’s father. There are
exceptions to this ruling. In some circumstance child support may
predate the commencement of the paternity action if there was a delay in
commencing the paternity action because of threats, promises, or
representations, by the father that the mother relied on or if the
father evaded service to avoid the commencement of paternity
proceedings.
-- Hellmuth & Johnson, PLLC
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