Establishing Paternity when father incarcerated
 

Good morning,

I’ll be calling the county I’m from on Monday but wanted to see if by any chance anyone here knew something in regards to adding the father’s name to a child’s birth certificate after having had the child. Has anyone gone through the process of adding their child’s father’s name to the birth certificate while they were incarcerated? I did a little reading and found a paper form that can be filled out to “establish paternity” .. but was a little confused. I’d appreciate any information anyone may have!!

Thanks in advance!!

After my Son died, we needed to establish paternity for his infant daughter in Florida so she could receive Social Security survivor benefits. Child Support Services was involved and I ended up having to testify in court. I think CSS did some sort of a paternity test too.

You can have a paternity test ordered if the father is unwilling or unsure. Otherwise, he can sign the birth certificate and sign an Affidavit of Paternity along with it... but keep in mind that generally makes him the legal father (financially obligated) even if he is later found to not be the child’s biological father.

http://www.courts.ca.gov/selfhelp-parentage.htm

Bet that is the form you mean.

You should note that if the man is not the father, the actual father may have to sign something or otherwise have his rights terminated unless you plan to co-parent with the actual, biological father. Failure to even notify him of the existence of the child could have fairly severe consequences.

Establishing paternity is best done with the help of a lawyer licensed in the state. The kind of lawyer you’re looking for is a family law attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, you may qualify for low/no cost legal help through Legal Aid or a Family Law clinic at an area law school.

Youself, YES!! That’s the form I was referring to. I guess I was just confused as to how One would go about having that form notarized while being incarcerated. The father of the child is the one that is trying to establish his paternity but doesn’t know how because when he sent paperwork to family court they stated he couldn’t do anything until he was released. I’m almost certain he must have misunderstood.

When my hub was in prison, I had to get something notarized and he was able to have that done for a small fee.

The notary comes to the prison and sees the counselor and the inmates and does the notarization.
I think it was like 35 dollars which had to be in a postal money order form.


He can check with his facility to see if they offer that there, the process, etc.

In California, most prisons have notary services available. My husband had to have the money in his trust account to pay for the services. He can ask about the cost. I think our last one was $15.

I just went through this. LO was adamant about being on the original birth cert. alameda county said there was no way even if we had the “declaration of parentage” form notarized. Our only option was to go back and modify the birth cert for a fee, and appear before a judge to do so when he was released. But then, I got to talking to some of the right people that actually issue the birth certs and somehow his name was on the original cert. shouldn’t be so hard for an incarcerated dad to step up and claim there child...