A child’s paternity has many important considerations. Paternity may be relevant to issues of legitimacy, inheritance, and rights to a putative father’s title or surname, and the biological father’s rights to custody and obligations for child support. Paternity law deals with the legal relationship between a father and a child, including the rights and obligations of both the man and the child to each other as well as to others.
If a child’s paternity is disputed, a court may determine paternity between one or more possible fathers (called putative fathers), typically based initially upon sworn statements and then upon testimony or other evidence.