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An Introduction to the Divorce
Process in Dallas Texas
Separation
Filing for Divorce
Temporary Divorce Orders
Conducting Divorce Discovery
Mediation and Settlement
in the Divorce Process
Collaborative Representation
in the Divorce Process
Divorce Trials In Dallas
Decree of Divorce
Appellate Process in
the Dallas District
Divorce Modification
Paternity
Adoption
Grandparent Access
Child Protective Services
Abuse
Divorcing a US Military
Service Person
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Paternity in Dallas County
Establishing Mother-Child Relationship
Establishing Father-Child Relationship
Father's Rights With Respect to Child
Child's Rights With Respect to Biological Father
The term parent-child relationship means the legal
relationship between a child and the child's parents as
provided by Family Code Chapter 160. The term includes the
mother-child relationship and the father-child. A
parent-child relationship gives the parents specific rights
and duties with respect to the child. The parent-child
relationship extends equally to every child regardless of
the parents' marital status.
"Parent" defined. Parent means the mother, a man presumed
to be the father, a man legally determined to be the father,
a man who has been adjudicated to be the father, a man who
has acknowledged his paternity, or an adoptive mother or
father. The term does not include a parent as to whom the
parent-child relationship has been terminated. Since a child
can have only one legal father, a person who is adjudicated
to be a child's father becomes the child's parent to the
exclusion of a man previously presumed to be the father.
"Child" defined. The term child means a person under 18
years of age who is not and has not been married or who has
not had his or her disabilities of minority removed for
general purposes. In the context of child support, ``child''
includes a person over 18 years of age who is fully enrolled
in an accredited secondary school in a program leading
toward a high school diploma.
The mother-child relationship is established between a woman
and a child by:
- The woman giving birth to the child;
- An adjudication of the woman's maternity; or
- he woman's adoption of the child.
The father-child relationship is established between a man
and a child by:
- An unrebutted presumption of the man's paternity of
the child;
- An effective acknowledgment of paternity by the man,
unless the acknowledgment has been rescinded or
successfully challenged;
- An adjudication of the man's paternity;
- The man's adoption of the child; or
- The man's consenting to assisted reproduction by his
wife, which resulted in the birth of the child.
The parent-child relationship gives a parent specific rights
and duties, including:
- The right to have physical possession, to direct the
moral and religious training, and to establish the
residence of the child.
- The duty of care, control, protection, and
reasonable discipline of the child.
- The duty to support the child, including providing
the child with clothing, food, shelter, medical and
dental care, and education.
- The duty to manage the child's estate (unless a
guardian of the child's estate has been appointed).
- The right to the child's earnings and services.
- The right to consent to the child's marriage,
enlistment in the armed forces, medical and dental care,
and psychiatric, psychological, and surgical treatment.
- The right to represent the child in legal action and
to make other decisions of substantial legal
significance concerning the child.
- The right to receive child support payments and to
hold or disburse funds for the child's benefit.
- The right to inherit from and through the child.
- The right to make decisions concerning the child's
education.
- Any other right or duty existing between a parent
and child by virtue of law.
A proceeding to adjudicate parentage may be joined with a
proceeding for possession of or access to a child or child
support, or another appropriate proceeding.
A biological father has certain constitutionally protected
due process rights with respect to his child. A biological
father who asserts his interest in establishing a
relationship with the child near the time of the child's
birth has constitutionally mandated standing to assert that
interest if he both (1) acknowledges responsibility for
child support or other care and maintenance; and (2) makes
serious and continuous efforts to establish a relationship
with the child.
The denial of state-paid blood grouping tests to an indigent
alleged father constitutes a denial of due process rights,
at least when the alleged father is charged with support of
the child, enforceable by contempt, since if this unusually
probative and reliable type of evidence is unavailable to
the alleged father, he is effectively denied the opportunity
to be heard. Texas law avoids this problem to some extent,
since the court must order parentage testing, and the fees
of court-appointed experts may be charged by the court to
any or all of the parties or to the Texas Department of
Protective and Regulatory Services if the department is a
party to the suit.
State laws that allow proof of parentage by a preponderance
of the evidence standard have been held to be consistent
with due process. By contrast, due process requires a clear
and convincing standard of evidence in cases in which
termination of the parent-child relationship is sought.
A biological father has certain parental rights with respect
to his child under the equal protection clause of the United
States Constitution. Federal equal protection guarantees
require that, if the father has established a "substantial
relationship" with the child, the standard for termination
of his parental rights be the same as that applied to the
unwed mother. However, some statutory differences in the
treatment of unwed mothers and biological fathers remain and
may be inevitable. For example, the mother of a child is
always considered to be a parent with the rights and
obligations inherent in the parent-child relationship,
whereas the biological father is presumed to be a parent
only under certain statutorily-prescribed circumstances. In
situations in which there is no presumed father, the genetic
father is considered a parent only if he is the
acknowledged, adjudicated, or adopted father.
Different treatment by the state of married and unmarried
fathers does not generally present a constitutional problem.
The United States Supreme Court has recognized that the
state has a valid interest in deterring or disapproving the
conduct of unwed parents.
Under the Texas Equal Rights Amendment, which forbids
discrimination on the basis of gender, the state may not
require an unwed father seeking to establish paternity to
obtain the mother's consent or to show that it is in the
child's best interest that he be designated the father.
Instead, the state interest in protecting children's welfare
may be served by concentrating on the father's relationship
to the child. "A father who steps forward, willing and able
to shoulder the responsibilities of raising a child, should
not be required to meet a higher burden of proof solely
because he is male".
A proceeding to adjudicate parentage may be joined with a
proceeding for child support. A parent's duty to support a
child extends equally to genetic fathers. To deny a child a
substantial benefit accorded to children generally on the
ground that the child's father was not married to the
child's mother violates the constitutional guarantee of
equal protection. The amount of support must be determined
without regard to the parents' marital status.
A person who is not presumed to be the biological child of a
decedent may petition the probate court for a determination
of the right to inherit. If the court finds by clear and
convincing evidence that the claimant is the decedent's
biological child, the claimant must be treated as any other
child of the decedent. The state may not deny a child the
right to inherit merely because the claim of paternity was
filed after the father's death. Nevertheless, the state's
interest in the orderly disposition of decedents' estates
may justify the imposition of some special requirements on a
child born out of wedlock who asserts a right to inherit
from his or her biological father. For example, the state's
interest in the orderly disposition of estates may justify
limitations placed on the time and manner in which an
illegitimate child may assert a right to inherit. However, a
statute of limitation may not, within the bounds of the
equal protection guarantee, cut off the petitioner's right
to initiate a paternity suit before the petitioner has the
opportunity to do so.
If the husband provides sperm for or consents to assisted
reproduction by his wife, he is the father of a resulting
child. When a man consents to assisted reproduction by his
wife and the assisted reproduction results in the birth of a
child, a father-child relationship is established between
the man and the child. Assisted reproduction means a method
of causing pregnancy other than sexual intercourse. The term
includes:
- intrauterine insemination;
- donation of eggs;
- Donation of embryos;
- In vitro fertilization and transfer of embryos; and
- Intracytoplasmic sperm injection.
by a married woman to assisted reproduction must be in
writing or other record signed by the woman and her husband.
Even if the husband does not sign the consent, he may be
found to be the child's father if the husband and wife
openly treated the child as their own.
Generally, a husband may challenge his paternity of a child
born to his wife by means of assisted reproduction only if:
- He commences a proceeding to adjudicate his
paternity before the fourth anniversary of learning of
the child's birth; and
- He did not consent to the assisted reproduction,
either before or after the child's birth.
- However, a proceeding to adjudicate paternity may be
maintained at any time if:
- The husband did not provide sperm for or consent to
assisted reproduction by his wife;
- The husband and the child's mother have not
cohabited since the probable time of assisted
reproduction; and
- The husband never openly treated the child as his
own.
These limitations also apply to a marriage that is declared
invalid after assisted reproduction.
For more information on acknowledging or denying paternity
in Dallas click
establishing paternity in Texas.
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