Paternity
In Georgia, a legal action to establish paternity is called "legitimation." If you are an unmarried father seeking visitation with your child or an unmarried mother who wants child support, you must first establish a legal father-child relationship through an order of legitimation.
The lawyers at The Hamilton Law Firm, P.C., represent unmarried fathers and mothers in Georgia who wish to establish paternity through legitimation orders. We also handle petitions for child support and for custody and visitation rights once paternity has been established.
The legitimation process is necessary to establish paternity when the parents are unmarried, even in the event that the father is named on the birth certificate. However, the process is simpler if both parents agree who the father is. If the two parents do not agree, then paternity must be established through the use of DNA testing.
In addition to mothers seeking child support, our lawyers represent an increasing number of fathers who want to be involved in their children's lives. The legitimation process enables fathers to have the same child custody and visitation rights that a divorced father would have. In addition to creating a legal father-child relationship, an order of legitimation gives the child the right to inherit from its father under Georgia law.
