If you have a child and were not married when the child was born, contact Beller Law, PL. We can explain your options, help you establish or disprove paternity, and help you protect your rights.
Establishing Unwed Father’s Rights in Florida Through Paternity
Typically, establishing unwed father’s rights in Florida begins with establishing paternity. Establishing paternity can be as simple as completing documents or as complex as going to court. Which process you go through depends on whether both parents believe and agree that the child is biologically their child.
Uncontested Paternity
Paternity is uncontested if both parents agree who the father is. You can establish paternity by having both parents sign:
- An affidavit or stipulation of paternity and file it with your local court;
- An affidavit or voluntary acknowledgment of paternity under penalty of perjury;
- A notarized voluntary acknowledgment of paternity; or
- A voluntary acknowledgment of paternity witnessed by two adults.
Either parent can rescind the agreement within 60 days of signing. After those 60 days, the potential father becomes the legal father with a court order, granting him the rights and responsibilities of parenthood.
Contested Paternity
Under Florida law, paternity can be established through various court or administrative processes as well, including:
- Filing a paternity case;
- Establishing the relationship through an inheritance, workers’ compensation, or similar benefits claim; or
- A Department of Revenue proceeding related to establishing economic need.
Typically, scientific testing or DNA testing verifies who a child’s father is. If testing concludes at least a 95% chance of paternity, the potential father is generally considered the biological father. If testing is inconclusive, courts weigh the probability of paternity based on all the facts the parties offer. The court dismisses the case if the potential father cannot be established through agreement, scientific testing, or other conclusive evidence as the biological father.
Florida Father’s Rights
Unmarried fathers with established paternity become the child’s natural guardian along with their mother and gain legal father’s rights. Florida father’s rights include spending time with and making decisions about the child.
Parental Rights
Florida’s parents’ bill of rights gives parents the following rights to their children:
- Direct the child’s education and care;
- Direct the child’s moral and religious upbringing;
- Enroll the child in a public school, private school, home school, or similar program authorized by law;
- Access and review their child’s school records;
- Make healthcare decisions;
- Access and review their child’s medical records;
- To give or withhold consent before the government takes or shares their child’s biometric information;
- To give consent before the government takes or shares their child’s blood or DNA;
- To give or withhold consent before the government includes their child in a video or voice recording; and
- Notification of suspicion the child was the victim of a crime not involving the parent.
These rights are balanced against the child’s and other parent’s rights.
Parenting Time
Florida law now declares that generally parents should share equal parenting time. Equal parenting time means the child lives with both parents for an equal amount of time. Parenting time is also called physical custody.
Parents can agree to a different arrangement, or a parent can offer evidence to the court indicating that splitting time equally is not in the child’s best interests. Factors that a court considers include each parent’s established and apparent:
- Ability to parent the child and maintain a close relationship with them;
- Likelihood of honoring the parenting schedule and adapting to reasonable changes;
- Ability to identify and act in the child’s best interests, even if contrary to the parent’s needs;
- Moral fitness, physical health, and mental health;
- Knowledge and willingness to learn about the child’s life, including their friends, teachers, doctors, activities, and favorites;
- Ability to provide a consistent routine and discipline;
- Willingness to co-parent and keep the other parent informed about the child;
- Historical parenting roles;
- Commitment and willingness to be involved in the child’s school and activities;
- Willingness and ability to protect the child from ongoing court proceedings; and
- History of substance use and ability to provide a substance abuse-free environment.
Courts also consider:
- The child’s needs and the parent’s ability to meet them;
- Where the child has lived, for how long, and how beneficial it would be to let the child continue living there;
- How the parents will divide parental responsibilities;
- The geographic distance between the parents’ houses and the child’s school;
- The child’s history at home, school, and in the community;
- If the child is mature enough to express it, their preferences;
- Any history of domestic or sexual violence, child abuse or neglect, or abandonment;
- A parent’s reasonable belief that they or the child is in danger of being victimized by the other parent; and
- Any false information reported concerning violence, abuse, or neglect.
If these factors make it more likely than not that the child primarily living with one parent is in their best interests, the court may order unequal parenting time.
Parenting Responsibility
Similar to having legal custody, Florida parental responsibilities include deciding the child’s:
- Education,
- Health care, and
- Any other responsibilities unique to the family.
Courts order shared parenting responsibility unless it would be detrimental to the child. Detriments to the child include a history of or the imminent threat of:
- Domestic violence,
- Child abuse,
- Neglect,
- Abandonment, or
- Sexual abuse.
Criminal convictions of any of the above generally mean that shared parenting responsibilities would be detrimental.
Florida Fathers’ Duties to Their Children
Once an unwed father establishes paternity, he also becomes obligated to support the child, if that has not already been established. This obligation applies until the child turns 18 or, if still enrolled in high school, graduates high school.
To meet this duty, one parent usually pays child support to the other. The amount of child support payments is determined by combining the parents’ net incomes. Then, the state orders the parents to proportionally cover the child’s needs. Notably, a court can order up to two years of retroactive child support payments if paternity is established later than birth. Also, a child support order can be entered without also establishing a father’s rights to spend time with the child.
Establishing Unmarried Father’s Rights in Florida
For assistance identifying or establishing unwed fathers’ rights and responsibilities, reach out to Beller Law, PL. Our firm is committed to ensuring you truly understand your rights and options and to helping you protect your rights and your children.
Resources:
2024 Florida Statutes § 61.13 (parenting time, parenting responsibility), link.
2024 Florida Statutes § 61.29 (child support details), link.
2024 Florida Statutes § 61.30 (child support guidelines and retroactive child support), link.
2024 Florida Statutes § 409.256 (administrative proceedings to establish paternity), link.
2024 Florida Statutes § 742.011 (paternity action), link.
2024 Florida Statutes § 742.12 (scientific testing to determine paternity), link.
2024 Florida Statutes § 744.301 (natural guardians), link.
2024 Florida Statutes § 1014.04 (parental bill of rights), link.