What is a paternity action?
In Minnesota, if you are not married and have a child, in order to get legally recognized parenting time and custody you must file a lawsuit called a “paternity action.” This court case will decide these issues. A DNA test may or may not be part of this process. You actually do not need to do a DNA test if the mother and father agree, but you can request one.
Often at the hospital a Recognition of Paternity Action (ROP) is presented to and signed by the father. A ROP will give basic and limited rights to fathers, usually limited to prohibiting the mother from giving the child up for adoption and requiring child support be paid.
A side note here: I get calls all the time where a father will say “I signed the birth certificate” what he means is he signed the ROP but that still doesn’t give him any rights until he gets a court order.
So, we know an unmarried father or mother must go to court and start a “paternity action” in court to establish:
- Legal Custody
- Physical Custody
- Parenting Time
Once the paternity action has been started in a Minnesota Court, the case proceeds like most custody cases, that is the court will use the best interest standard to determine custody an parenting time.
Here are some of the more common questions that I get about paternity case:
I signed the Recognition of Parentage (ROP) at the hospital, is that the same as being “adjudicated the father” by a court?
No. the ROP is a document that does give you very limited legal rights such as not allowing the child to be adopted without informing you. But, for the common issues of seeing your child or custody, the ROP has no impact.
Does dad have any rights if the child is born and he wasn’t married to the mother?
No. Remember, Minnesota doesn’t have common law marriage, and as such, if the child is born to an unmarried woman, the father, whomever it might be, has no rights until the Minnesota Family Court adjudicates him the father.
If I don’t sign the ROP, does that mean I won’t have to pay child support?
No, the ROP has no impact on child support. If the child’s mother wants to try and receive child support OR the county is involved giving either the mother or child assistance, then one of the entities can bring an action to adjudicate the father and seek child support.
One caveat is that if you sign the ROP you are presumed to be the father, which means it might be hard to be “unnamed” the father in the future. So, be sure you are the father if you decide to sign that document.
Can my child’s mother just move to another state if there is no court order?
Yes, Minnesota law is crystal clear on this point, unless you have an order granting you specific parenting time, the child and her mother can move anywhere she likes. To stop this you will need to go to court and get a court order for custody and parenting time.
A side note here is that it’s important to know that if you START the case you will be able to stop the mother from moving as there is a pending legal action.
My child’s mother and I signed a piece of paper saying I’m the dad, is that good enough?
No. This is just the ROP as I talked about above, the issue here is that unless you are married OR you have the court order all that paper does is limit the mother’s ability to adopt the child away.
What’s next?
If you are need of a paternity action establish your legal rights as father OR you have been served with papers starting a paternity action, call us today at 507-625-5000. We will be happy to discuss what we can do for you so that you know all of your legal rights regarding the paternity action.