In law, Paternity is the legal acknowledgment of the parental relationship between a man and a child usually based on several factors.

Under common law, a child born to the wife during a marriage is usually presumed to be the husband's child. This concept is the "presumption of lawful paternity", and assigns to the husband complete rights, duties and obligations to the child. Check the Austin paternity for more details about this.

The presumption, however, can be sometimes be rebutted by evidence to the contrary, at least prior to a formal court ruling involving the putative paternity, and this is often a decree of divorce, annulment, or legal separation. Visit Austin paternity about this.

When the paternity of a child is in question, a party may ask the court to determine paternity of one or several possible fathers (called putative fathers) based initially upon sworn statements and then upon testimony or other evidence. A successful application to the court results in an order assigning paternity to a specific man, possibly including Child Support and/or visitation rights. Check out Austin paternity for more information about this.

When legal separation occurs, responsibilities such as child support arise. Child support or child maintenance is the ongoing obligation for a periodic payment made directly or indirectly by a non-custodial parent to a custodial parent, caregiver or guardian, or the government, for the care and support of children of a relationship or marriage that has been terminated.

In family law, child support is often arranged as part of a divorce, marital separation, dissolution, annulment, determination of parentage or dissolution of a civil union and may supplement alimony (spousal support) arrangements.

Child support is based on the policy that both parents are obligated to support their children, even when the children are not living with both biological parents. Though courts typically permit visitation rights to non-custodial parents, in such separations one parent is often awarded custody and the role of primary caregiver. If you want more information about paternity laws and child supports, then visit Austin paternity for more details.