What Is Parentage?
This basically means who is the father of the child. Here are some of the most common questions that our office, our Firm, is asked:

What Are Parenting Presumptions?
This means that if a man and woman are married, the State of Texas believes that the husband is the father of the child. The couple does not have to be married so long as they were trying to get married in good faith.

Another presumption is that if the child is born within 300 days after a divorce, the ex-husband is still the presumed father.

Another presumption is if the man and woman are not married but after the child is born, they voluntarily get married.

The last presumption is if the man, who may or may not be the father, lives with the child for its first 2 years of life; in this case the mother and man do not have to be married. The man just has to live with the child for the child’s first 2 years of life.

Well, If I’m A Man Living In Arlington or Mansfield How Can I Prove That I Am Not The Father?
Simple. Take a paternity test. If you are married but know that your wife was stepping-out or being unfaithful get a paternity test to prove you are not the father. Otherwise, the courts here in Dallas, Arlington, Fort Worth and Mansfield are going to presume you are the father.

I’m A Man In Texas And I Just Found Out My Wife May Had Got Pregnant By Someone Else And My Son May Not Be My Child, What Do I Do?
In Texas, you normally have four years to attack the presumption that you are the father. But if is after 4 years and your wife was lying and you are just now finding out that this child may have been fathered by someone else, the court may now allow you to get a paternity to prove you are not in fact the father. The courts in Dallas and Tarrant County will sometime do this when the alleged father had a mistaken belief.

(a) A man is presumed to be the father of a child if:

(1) he is married to the mother of the child and the child is born during the marriage;

(2) he is married to the mother of the child and the child is born before the 301st day after the date the marriage is terminated by death, annulment, declaration of invalidity, or divorce;

(3) he married the mother of the child before the birth of the child in apparent compliance with law, even if the attempted marriage is or could be declared invalid, and the child is born during the invalid marriage or before the 301st day after the date the marriage is terminated by death, annulment, declaration of invalidity, or divorce;

(4) he married the mother of the child after the birth of the child in apparent compliance with law, regardless of whether the marriage is or could be declared invalid, he voluntarily asserted his paternity of the child, and:

(A) the assertion is in a record filed with the bureau of vital statistics;

(B) he is voluntarily named as the child’s father on the child’s birth certificate; or

(C) he promised in a record to support the child as his own; or

(5) during the first two years of the child’s life, he continuously resided in the household in which the child resided and he represented to others that the child was his own.

(b) A presumption of paternity established under this section may be rebutted only by:

(1) an adjudication under Subchapter G; or

(2) the filing of a valid denial of paternity by a presumed father in conjunction with the filing by another person of a valid acknowledgment of paternity as provided by Section 160.305.

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In Texas, child support is paid by the Obligor who is almost always the non-primary conservator (meaning the parent who has the weekend visitation). The primary conservator is the parent with the right to designate the primary residence of the child and is also called the Obligee when it comes to child support.

Child support is controlled by the Texas Family Code and is usually set by the judge according to the code. Rarely do judges in Texas deviate from the percentages laid out in the code. In Texas, if you have one kid, you can count on paying about 20% of your monthly take-home pay. It goes up 5% for each additional child that is involved in that particular court case and percentages are often subtracted if you have other kids that are not part of the same case.

To have your child support decreased in Texas, your Monthly Net Resources must have changed by 20% -OR- the amount of child support that you should be paying has to change by $100. So, how does this work in the real world. Well, if you take a severe pay cut then it may be in your best interest to call us and talk about whether our attorneys can get your child support reduced. Not all people who have their salary reduced are eligible for a child support reduction. In these situations, our attorneys have to sit down and do the math with your past salary and your current salary to find out if you are eligible. Also keep in mind that if your salary goes UP during the case, then that could also cause your child support payments to go up.

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