Q: Hello, my name is Amber. Im look for information or help on establishing paternity for my son, who’s father passed away
Hello, my name is Amber. I contacted my local domestic relations office to see about establishing paternity, they said I have to contact an attorney. My son was born December 30, 2022, his father and I signed an acknowledgment of paternity form at the hospital on December 31st, 2022. I decided to do a new acknowledgment of paternity form without the father being on it, due to other issues. We were to have his birth certificate fixed and have his father put back on, but my sons father passed away before we got the chance on January 26th, 2023. There was hair samples kept from my sons father after he passed, for his mother and I to establish paternity. His mother is not fighting it, she even offered to be swabbed to establish paternity. I’m not sure what I have to do in order to establish paternity? Domestic relations won’t help, I tried laurel legal they told me they can’t help. I’ve tried several others I was referred to, nobody can help or tell me what I need to do.
A:
This is an impossible question to answer because of the state of statutory law that governs deceased paternity.
The hair samples that are collected outside a court order are inadmissible. The samples had to be collected under a court order to better support their reliability that the correct father was included in the child's birth certificate.
There is no other way to obtain paternity unless the deceased father signed an acknowledgment of paternity before dying.
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