Colorado family courts make all decisions in a child’s best interest. This includes matters of child custody and child support, not only for divorcing parents, but also for non-married parents. Establishing paternity is a crucial first step for unmarried parents, so the biological father gains all parental rights and responsibilities toward their child.
Whether parents are together in a relationship at the time of the birth, they are no longer together, or there is a question of paternity, it’s important not to overlook the advantages of establishing paternity. Contact a free consultation to discuss your case with our family law firm in Denver today at (303) 451-0300.
What Rights and Responsibilities Come With Established Paternity?
Under Colorado’s Parental Responsibilities Act, the state recognizes the following:
“Parents have the fundamental and inalienable right to direct and control the upbringing of their children…” This includes the right to make important decisions for their child, including medical care, education, religion, and extracurricular activities, as well as the right to shared physical custody.
Parents in Colorado also have a legal obligation to support their child. When parents are unmarried or divorced, the state’s Income Shares Model provides a formula for calculating child support based on the parents’ total combined income and the number of overnight custody days each parent has with their child.
A child’s biological mother automatically has full parental rights to their child because there is no question that they are the child’s parent; however, a biological father must establish paternity before they have legal parental rights. Establishing paternity also allows a mother to compel their child’s biological father to participate in supporting their child through enforceable child support orders.
How Do You Legally Establish Paternity In Colorado?
There are several ways to legally establish paternity (now often known as parentage) in Colorado. For married parents, putting both names on a child’s birth certificate automatically establishes parentage. The Colorado court then presumes that the other parent listed on the birth certificate is the child’s father. Unmarried parents must take one of the following steps to establish paternity:
- Both parents may sign a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity (VAP) form and add the father’s name to the birth certificate. In this case, a parent can only rescind this form within 60 days of signing
- A mother can file a petition for a court-ordered paternity test to establish her child’s alleged biological father’s paternity
- A man who believes he is a child’s biological parent may take a paternity test at a court-approved laboratory to establish paternity and gain full parental rights and obligations
Finally, the Colorado Juvenile Court has jurisdiction to establish parentage by testing all presumptive and/or alleged fathers in a case when a child’s parentage is in question.
Reasons For Establishing Paternity In Colorado
Establishing paternity in Colorado is an essential step for the non-birthing parent to assert their legal right to child custody or visitation. Colorado presumes that continued close contact with both parents is in a child’s best interest unless a parent rebuts this presumption with compelling evidence showing that shared custody is not in the child’s best interest.
Colorado has many options for shared parenting time schedules that divide parenting time fairly, or the parents or the court may determine that it’s in the child’s best interest for one parent to have primary custody while the other has visitation rights.
Establishing paternity is also crucial when a mother seeks child support from the child’s alleged father. Once paternity has been established through genetic testing, the child’s father has the legal obligation to support their child as well as the right to seek shared custody or visitation. While the court does not compel an established father to share custody or seek visitation, it does enforce the child support obligation.