Paternity Suits: We Were Never Married, Now What?

Family law help by experienced divorce and paternity attorneys serving the Temecula, Hemet, and Murrieta areas of Riverside county, California.

A paternity suit is an action filed in court when two people were never married, but have children together. A paternity suit is filed in the same court as a divorce action. This court is called the family law court. The local courthouse that handles these types of cases in the Temecula and Murrieta areas of Riverside County, California is located at the Hemet court.

Unlike a divorce action, which can divide property, a paternity case can only deal with a limited number of issues. These include who the parents of each child is (paternity), who each child should live with (custody), how much time each child should with each parent (visitation) and how much child support by one parent to the other to help care for the children (child support). The court can also award attorney fees to one party, if it feels it is appropriate. The court cannot award any form of spousal support.

It is not uncommon for parents who live together for a significant amount of time to buy a home together. The issues of what will happen to the home, how much the house is worth, and how much money each party has in equity cannot be decided in a family court when the parties are not married. In those cases where parents have children together, own a house together, but were never married, the parents have to file two law suits: a paternity action to settle any issues involving their children, and a civil lawsuit (called a partition action) to settle any issues involving division of property.

A paternity action is very different than a divorce in other respects, as well. A divorce action always takes at least six months and one day. This is called a waiting period. Because there is no waiting period in a paternity action, the process is much shorter. On average, a paternity action takes about 3 months to complete versus about nine months for a divorce. There is also no residency requirement in a paternity action. In a divorce action, one of the parties must live in California for at least six months and within the county for at least three months before they can file a divorce. In a paternity suit, either party can file immediately, without having to live in either California or Riverside County for a specified amount of time. Paternity paperwork is also easier to file.

A paternity action usually involves the filing of a Petition and the filing of an Order to Show Cause for custody, visitation, child support, and sometimes attorney fees. If the alleged father admits that he is the father of the child, the court will often enter a judgment the same day as it makes orders for custody and child support. Otherwise, the court will order a paternity test, the parties will return to court after they receive the results, and the court will enter a judgment at that hearing.

For more information on paternity, or any other family law matters, and if you live in the Temecula, Murrieta, Hemet or surrounding Riverside areas, please call one or our paternity lawyers for more information. Otherwise, please visit our other postings on this blogs and our web sites at http://www.temeculadivorce.com/ or http://familylaw-riversidecounty.com/ or http://www.familylawyerintemecula.com/