PATERNITY

Paternity

A paternity action is one which the parties have a child(ren) together but they are not lawfully married. Paternity of a child(ren) can be establish either by execution of an affidavit affirming paternity at the child's birth, by subsequent stipulation/agreement of the parents or if necessary by DNA testing pursuant to a court order. Once paternity has been established, a PARENTING PLAN must be established either by written agreement of the parties or failing that by an order of the court. In a paternity action, the court does not have jurisdiction over any financial matters that are associated between the parties, except of course for the establishment of child support. Child support is established by preparation of a child support guidelines worksheet. This worksheet includes the parents' gross incomes, their lawful deductions, their individual health insurance costs, the health insurance costs for the child(ren) and any applicable child care costs are all factored into determining the amount of child support. Another component of the child support guidelines worksheet is the actual timesharing for each parent. Typically one parent is awarded majority timesharing with the remaining timesharing being awarded to the other parent. On much less frequent occasions, the parties can agree or the court can order 50/50 timesharing with the child(ren) spending equal time with each parent.
Even if the parents have equal timesharing of their child(ren), depending on the respective income of the parents and the other above referenced factors that are computed within the guidelines worksheet, one parent may still have an obligation to pay some amount of child support to the other. The PARENTING PLAN includes various decision making parental responsibilities such as education, child care, extracurricular activities and healthcare related matters. The PARENTING PLAN also includes the timesharing entitlement of the parents, i.e. how much time the child(ren) spend with each parent.

Marc A. Tenney, being a parent himself understands how imperative it is to take any action necessary to insure the best interests of the child(ren) and the rights of his client/parent are fully protected.
A paternity action is one which the parties have a child(ren) together but they are not lawfully married. Paternity of a child(ren) can be establish either by execution of an affidavit affirming paternity at the child's birth, by subsequent stipulation/agreement of the parents or if necessary by DNA testing pursuant to a court order. Once paternity has been established, a PARENTING PLAN must be established either by written agreement of the parties or failing that by an order of the court. In a paternity action, the court does not have jurisdiction over any financial matters that are associated between the parties, except of course for the establishment of child support. Child support is established by preparation of a child support guidelines worksheet. This worksheet includes the parents' gross incomes, their lawful deductions, their individual health insurance costs, the health insurance costs for the child(ren) and any applicable child care costs are all factored into determining the amount of child support. Another component of the child support guidelines worksheet is the actual timesharing for each parent. Typically one parent is awarded majority timesharing with the remaining timesharing being awarded to the other parent. On much less frequent occasions, the parties can agree or the court can order 50/50 timesharing with the child(ren) spending equal time with each parent.
Even if the parents have equal timesharing of their child(ren), depending on the respective income of the parents and the other above referenced factors that are computed within the guidelines worksheet, one parent may still have an obligation to pay some amount of child support to the other. The PARENTING PLAN includes various decision making parental responsibilities such as education, child care, extracurricular activities and healthcare related matters. The PARENTING PLAN also includes the timesharing entitlement of the parents, i.e. how much time the child(ren) spend with each parent.

Marc A. Tenney, being a parent himself understands how imperative it is to take any action necessary to insure the best interests of the child(ren) and the rights of his client/parent are fully protected.
My law practice is conveniently located at 7011 Central Avenue, Suite B, St. Petersburg, Florida. For a free initial consultation, please call my office at 727-321-5370
Share by: