Establishing paternity is a legal process that officially ties a father to his child on a legal level. Once paternity is established, the father will have certain parental rights and responsibilities. The father will have to start paying child support, for example, if the parents are divorced or separated. The father will also have parental rights granted to him, such as the right to custody or visitation. A family may wish to obtain a paternity acknowledgement to establish parentage for many different reasons. According to a study of unmarried parents by The University of Texas, the most common motivators for establishing paternity include:
Personal or emotional reasons.
The mother and/or father really wanted to.
One or both parties wanted the father's name on the birth certificate.
Concern for public benefits.
Concern for child support.
The mother wanted to ensure the child has a legal father.
The father wanted to ensure his right to custody or visitation.
The mother wanted to make the child eligible for health insurance, government benefits, etc.
In contrast, the choice not to establish paternity most often involved the alleged father not being present in the delivery room, the alleged father not wanting paternity establishment, the alleged father or mother not thinking it was important, the alleged father doubting paternity, lack of necessary ID for paternity establishment, and not knowing the proper steps of establishing paternity. These results came from assessing 800 Texas mothers who gave birth to children outside of wedlock. They help shed light on potential reasons a family may wish to establish parentage.