Parental Rights

What are Parental Rights?

Aside from the traditional method of having a baby and signing the necessary paperwork to be recognized as a legal parent, there are a wide variety of reasons why a person may want to legally determine whether they are the parent of a child. While many individuals may seek parentage support from a divorce lawyer for the purpose of obtaining legal parenting rights for child custody and other reasons, others explore this route as a means to confirm that they are not the parent of a child. Washington State has outlined parentage and paternity in great detail.

How to Establish Parental Rights

You may be hoping to establish parentage as a means to prove that you are the parent so that you can pursue visitation or fight for child custody. As the primary caregiver in a one-parent household, you may also be pursuing parentage as a means to hold the father responsible for child support. A court order may be issued in these cases, following a legal case that requests the court to determine the child’s paternity. Testing will need to be done that can scientifically establish who the biological father is. After that information is gained, the court can go to work ensuring that all parties are given rights and responsibilities that their position involves.

In the majority of single-parent households, the establishment of paternity is essential to receiving child support when the father has not acknowledged he is the parent of the child. Establishing paternity is equally valuable for those who want to be recognized as legal parents so that they can play an active role in the upbringing of their children. At Blair & Kim, PLLC, we support your right to confirm your legal parentage, no matter the reason. Our firm has worked to establish parental rights for many years, and we are proud that our dedication, insightful approach and experience have assisted many to get the critical issue of parentage resolved.