Paternity Law in Florida

Generally speaking, Florida paternity cases involve a situation where the parties have a child but are not married. Normally, the issues in a Florida paternity case include 1) establishing through scientific testing (DNA etc) or agreement of the parties etc., who the father is. 2) child support and 3) time-sharing issues. (formerly referred to as custody and visitation)

Florida Paternity cases can be easier than Florida divorce cases because alimony and property issues are not a concern. But it's the same as divorce regarding child support and timesharing (visitation) issues concerning children. Note that if a child is born during a marriage, and someone besides the husband is the biological father, the biological father usually cannot assert parental rights if the husband wishes to assert parental rights. Children born during a marriage are presumed to be the children of the husband and wife. But during a divorce case the husband is usually permitted to try and show that he is not the biological father, in which case he would not have to pay child support for example.