A new paternity statute was signed into law on July 1, 2023, which significantly changed the rights of unwed fathers. The changes made to the existing law were made in an effort to give unwed fathers more rights to their children in the absence of a court order, and to put them in a similar position as married fathers. The law includes changes and clarifications to automatic parental rights, natural guardianship, and establishing paternity.
Before the enactment of these changes, unwed fathers had no rights of time-sharing, were not the natural guardians of their children upon the child’s birth, and were not legally the father of their child, even if they had signed the birth certificate. Only upon establishing paternity through the courts did unwed fathers receive full parental rights. Under the previous law, mothers maintained 100% of time-sharing until a court order gave rights to the father.
The new law allows for more ways that fathers can establish paternity, including signing an acknowledgement of paternity form as part of signing the birth certificate, participating in a child support case brought by the Department of Revenue, or a stipulation of paternity signed by both parents. All of these changes expand the rights of unwed fathers.
