Opinion ID: 1899029
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Presumption of Legitimacy

Text: A child born during marriage is presumed to be the child of both the husband and wife. This presumption of legitimacy is one of the strongest rebuttable presumptions known to law. Cummings, 871 So.2d at 1059 (quoting G.T. v. Adoption of A.E.T., 725 So.2d 404, 410 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999)). As stated earlier, in Privette we recognized that this presumption grants legal fathers an unmistakable interest in paternity actions brought by the Department. 617 So.2d at 307. This recognition was grounded in a significant line of caselaw. The presumption of legitimacy protects a legal father's parental rights when another party brings an action to assume those rights. G.F.C. v. S.G., 686 So.2d 1382, 1385 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997) (finding that because the presumption of legitimacy established the legal father's paternity by law, a putative father could not bring a paternity action under chapter 742, Florida Statutes (1995)); G.T. v. Adoption of A.E.T., 725 So.2d 404, 410 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999) (recognizing that the legal father would have had a right to contest an adoption proceeding if he had acted on this right in a timely fashion). The presumption of legitimacy may even prevent the child's mother from contesting the legal father's parental rights. Hess v. Hess, 466 So.2d 1179, 1179-80 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985) (preventing a mother from challenging visitation rights granted to a legal father in a separation agreement by claiming the legal father is not the biological father of the child). Moreover, once a legal father challenges a paternity action by raising the presumption of legitimacy, he is estopped from later denying paternity and freeing himself from a duty of support. S.B. v. D.H., 736 So.2d 766, 767 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999). In light of this caselaw, we must agree with the Second District that these paternity actions certainly impact the legal father's ability to assert his right to a host of interests that lie at the heart of the parent-child relationship. Cummings, 871 So.2d at 1060 (recognizing that the paternity action will certainly affect the legal father's rights to the care, custody and control of the child). We also agree with the Second District that these proceedings carry significant legal and practical implications because they will likely cause the legal father's name to be removed from the child's birth certificate. See Cummings, 871 So.2d at 1060. At the time the child is born, the legal father's name is listed as the child's father on the birth certificate. § 382.013(2)(a), Fla. Stat. (2000) (If the mother is married at the time of birth, the name of the husband shall be entered on the birth certificate as the father of the child, unless paternity has been determined otherwise by a court of competent jurisdiction.). The Department's actions to determine paternity would change this without the legal father's knowledge. [3] At the time the Department filed its complaints, Florida law required a court order to remove the legal father's name from a birth certificate; however, the relief requested in these actions would bring about this change. §§ 382.015(2), 382.016(5), Fla. Stat. (2000). Section 382.015 required the clerk of the court to forward a copy of a court order determining paternity to the Department, and the Department was required to amend the birth certificate in accordance with this order. § 382.015(2), Fla. Stat. (2000). It seems that unless the court order expressly prohibited the Department from removing the legal father's name, his name would be removed without his knowledge. This removal carries significant practical and legal implications Pragmatically, the father named in the birth certificate is generally considered the father of the minor child. Indeed, Florida courts have considered a birth certificate in determining whether a child is a survivor in a wrongful death action, whether a man is a parent under a kidnapping statute, and as prima facie evidence of parentage. See Achumba v. Neustein, 793 So.2d 1013 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001) (finding that the illegitimate child of the deceased was not able to recover in a wrongful death action because the child's birth certificate named the legal father); Muniz v. State, 764 So.2d 729, 730 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000) (holding that the kidnapping statute's exemption for parents prevented the man named as father on the child's birth certificate from being charged with the crime). In essence, a legal father's material interests are necessarily impacted by these paternity actions as filed by the Department; therefore, he is an indispensable party. See Hinson v. Hinson, 356 So.2d 372, 374-75 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978) (finding a properly authenticated birth certificate is prima facie evidence that the deceased was the father of the child claiming the right to recover in a wrongful death action).