Fathers’ Rights Lawyers Protecting Dads in Worcester, Hanover, & Westborough in Worcester County

When parents are married at the time of a child’s birth, state law presumes that the father is the legal parent, giving him automatic parental rights to the child. If you were not married at the time of your child’s birth, you do not have parental rights until they are granted by the court through a court order. If you and the mother sign a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Parentage, your paternity will be established. You will not have to prove that you are the child’s biological father. If you do not sign this form and are not listed as the father on the child’s birth certificate, you will generally have to prove that you are the biological father through a paternity action before you can seek custody or visitation rights. This generally involves a DNA test that confirms your paternity.

The Voluntary Acknowledgment of Parentage does not, in and of itself, provide you as a father with legal or custodial rights to the child. It does make you responsible for child support. Even if the mother informally agrees that you should have any form of custody, you can only obtain valid custody rights through the court. If you have signed an Acknowledgment but question whether you actually are the biological father, you only have a relatively small timeframe to take action before you will be legally viewed as the father regardless of paternity.

Custody & Visitation

If you have previously been established as the biological father through marriage or a paternity action, you have the right to pursue custody or visitation with your child. Massachusetts law requires that judges decide custody based on what is in the child’s best interests. Generally, courts presume that a child’s best interests are served by both parents’ involvement and ability to make legal decisions concerning the child. Therefore, shared legal custody is favored. If you do not believe the child should be with his or her mother or that you should have sole legal custody, you must prove the mother’s parental unfitness to care for the child.

In some cases, an unmarried mother may use her child to control the father by denying him access to the child if he fails to do as she says or demands more money. In the most serious of these cases, a mother may falsely allege abuse, neglect, or domestic violence against the father to further restrict or control him. Emergency restraining orders may be issued by the courts without a father being present. In such situations, you should retain our services if the mother even threatens police or restraining order actions against you.