Studies show that more than one-half of children with mothers under the age of 30 are born out of wedlock.  While many states have laws that provide that spouses have equal rights to the children born of the marriage, this is often not the case for unmarried parents.  Instead, a father may need to file a paternity action in order to start the legal process of identifying him as the child’s biological father and establishing his rights to access to the child.  Similarly, a mother may wish to file a paternity action in order to establish the father’s obligation to financially support the child.

Child Support

Once paternity has been declared under a court order, child support may be figured based on the relevant child support formula in the jurisdiction where the child resides.  There may be factors that the court considers to adjust the amount of support up or down.

Child Visitation and Child Custody

Most states treat the obligation to financially support the child separate from the right to have access to the child through visitation or custody.  One parent may petition the court for child visitation or child custody.  The courts often consider legal custody and primary physical custody separately with legal custody being the right to make important decisions regarding the child.

Parenting Plan

Many jurisdictions encourage or require parents to draft a parenting plan in which the arrangements regarding a child are clearly laid out.  Parenting plans may include information about how holidays will be shared, how decisions regarding the child will be made, how information about the child will be shared and how other parenting issues will be resolved.  Parenting plans are often completed in a cooperative manner through the process of mediation, which may be a voluntary act by the parties or ordered by the court.