Every parent has a legal right to spend time with their children and participate in important decisions about their upbringing. Unfortunately, fathers often have difficulty enforcing their custody rights or even proving that a child is theirs. Below is an overview of your rights under the law and how a father’s rights attorney can help.

Enforcing a Father’s Rights in Wisconsin

Voluntary Acknowledgement

To enforce your rights to child custody and visitation, you may have to prove that a child is biologically yours. In most cases, parents sign a voluntary acknowledgement of paternity at the hospital when a child is born. Once this form has been signed and filed with the state, the person listed will be legally considered the biological father, with all the rights and responsibilities that role entails.

Paternity in Divorce Cases

Wisconsin law assumes that a man married to a child’s natural birth mother is the father. This assumption can be disproven with a DNA test, but the mother can’t simply say that someone else is the child’s father. If you were married when the child was born or conceived, a father’s rights attorney may be able to help you gain access to your child.

Paternity for Unmarried Parents

Unfortunately, if the parents were not married when the child was born, the father doesn’t have automatic rights under Wisconsin law. To gain access to your child and the right to participate in decisions that affect them, you may have to file a paternity action if the mother refuses to cooperate.

To begin a paternity action, your father’s rights attorney will file a petition with the court explaining why you believe you’re the father of the child. The mother may either agree that you are the father or object to the allegations, in which case the court will order a genetic paternity test. If the test reveals that you are the child’s biological father, the court will issue an order that gives you parenting time or visitation.

Since 1997, O'Neill Law Firm LLC has been protecting the rights of fathers throughout La Crosse, WI, and the Coulee Region. If you’re involved in a custody dispute, their father’s rights attorneys will guide you through the process and strive to achieve the best results possible. Visit their website for more on their services, get updates and tips on Facebook, or call (608) 519-3551 to speak with a father’s rights attorney today.