Custody

There are several ways to establish paternity (legal fatherhood) in Texas. Paternity is presumed (assumed) when a man is:

• married to the mother of the child and the child is born during the marriage or born before the 301^st day after the date the marriage ended (Note: 301 days accounts for the length of a typical pregnancy);
• married (but not a valid marriage) to the mother of the child before the birth of the child and the child is born during the invalid marriage or before the 301^st day after the marriage ended;
• married to the mother of the child after the birth of the child and voluntarily acknowledged paternity, and:
  • the acknowledgment is in a record filed with the bureau of vital statistics;
  • he voluntarily named himself the child’s father on the child’s birth certificate; or
  • he promised in a record to support the child as his own; or
• lived with the child in the same household for the first two years of the child’s life and he presented himself as the father to other people.¹

If the parents are not married, they can sign an acknowledgment of paternity (AOP) if both parents agree to this.² There is no filing fee to file the AOP.³ You can get an AOP form at a hospital, the local registrar, the Child Support Office or at the Vital Statistics Unit. For more information, see the website of the Texas Attorney General. Note: Signing an AOP generally means that the father has full rights and responsibilities as a parent, equal to the mother’s, unless a court order limits his rights.

Another way to establish paternity is when a parent files a paternity proceeding in court and the judge orders a genetic test to prove legal fatherhood.⁴

¹ Tex. Fam. Code § 160.204(a)
² Tex. Fam. Code § 160.301
³ Tex. Fam. Code § 160.306
⁴ Tex. Fam. Code § 160.502