An Attorney's Understanding of Louisiana's Paternity Rules

One of the more technical areas of Louisiana family law is paternity. It is important because there are times when a man can be on the hook to pay child support and to have another child have succession rights even if that child is not biologically his. Because Louisiana does not want a child to be without a father, there are certain timelines with which a father presumed to be the father of a child has to disavow paternity. This article and the one following attempt to go over many of these issues that typically an attorney deals with in order to make them clearer and more understandable.

This article will explain how it is that Louisiana determines whether you are the father of a child and the next article will explain how it is that you can disavow paternity of a child. A number of these should be done with the assistance of an attorney. To determine paternity, Louisiana normally does this through operation of law as opposed to DNA testing everyone. Louisiana has six ways for a party or their attorney to establish paternity which give you rights and obligations to the child.

The first method is the presumption that is given to a husband of the wife that bore the child. You're also presumed to be the father of the child if the child was born within 300 days of the marriage ending.

The second method is for a former wife who has married the father the child to bring action to establish paternity. This is possible to do when the new husband has filed a formal acknowledgment of the child. Civil Code Article 193 states that this must be done within two years of the child's birth and 180 days from the marriage to the new husband.

The third method establishing paternity is where a man marries his child's mother and also acknowledges the child through authentic act (a notary plus two witnesses) or by signing the birth certificate. To do this however the child must not been previously presumed to be the child of a man and a mother must give her formal approval.

The fourth way is for a father to formally acknowledge the child by either signing the birth certificate or making an authentic act. Again this is assuming the child is not presumed to be the child of a man.

The fifth way is for a child to institute a paternity action against the father. This is possible to do even if the child is legally thought to be that of another man.

The sixth way is for a father to file suit. If the child is presumed to be from another man, this must be done within one year of the birth of the child unless there was bad faith in deceiving the true father by the mother.

Will Beaumont is an attorney in New Orleans. This article is strictly informational and not legal advice.