Parents of children born out of wedlock have all the same rights – and obligations – as married parents. That almost always means facing the same legal issues as married parents. Issues like the division of parenting time, the division of child-related costs, and child support. And the Courts decide those issues in the same ways they do for married parents. They award parenting time based on the child’s best interests and child support pursuant to the Massachusetts Guidelines. 

There is one issue, however, that does come up more often in paternity cases than in divorce, and that is the question of the presumed father’s biological paternity. This is a question that can be easily answered, and should be answered, with a medical test. Often a man believing he is the father of a child will skip that step and sign an acknowledgment of paternity. That is not a good idea, though it is understandable. Often the man already has a relationship with the child and the possibility he is not the biological father is unthinkable. But the time to think about it, and to find out the truth, is before signing any acknowledgement of paternity. Even if the man intends to act as a father regardless of the outcome of the test, it is worth doing. Raising a child is expensive. If there is someone else who should contribute to that cost then it is in the child’s interst, and the assumed father’s, to find out as early as possible.

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