Putative Father's Right to Visitation

Putative Father's Right to Visitation

Parents have a natural right to the companionship of their children. In order to experience that companionship, parents and children must have time to be together. This is generally a non-legal issue. When the child's parents are not married, the child's father is called the putative father because he is reputed to be the father of the child. A putative father may also be known as the child's natural father or biological father. To be the child's legal father, the putative father must prove his paternity before a court. The proof could be a paternity test result or acknowledgment of the child as required by statute. Once paternity is acknowledged the father has a right to visitation with his child, so long as it is in the child's best interests.

A putative father can seek an order establishing his right to visitation with his child. Once the putative father's paternity has been established, a court will decide whether visitation with the child would be in the best interests of the child. Courts can consider the child's opinion and desires in light of the child at age, his or her ability to make an independent judgment, and maturity. Courts can also consider the nature of the relationship between the child's parents, the father's interest in the child, his acknowledgment of paternity, payment of child support, and the emotional effects of such visits on the child. If visitation by the father will disrupt the child's life, the court will take that in account in granting visitation. It is also very important that the father can provide affection and guidance to his child.

A putative father, who has shown no interest in his child, paid no child support, and is found unfit to be a parent, has no right to visitation with the child. In all cases, it is the best interest of the child that must be addressed and any rights of a putative father are subject to that standard. Therefore, a putative father who comes to court after years of no contact with his child seeking visitation or custody of the child to prevent the child from being adopted by the mother's husband will be disappointed. Courts have found that willful neglect by the putative father forfeits his parental rights in the child and visitation would not be in the child's best interest.

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