There are many issues within the legal system that can cause anxiety and anguish, and one of the most emotionally difficult to become involved in is the question of a child’s parentage. This issue often arises in child support cases when establishing beyond doubt a family law parentage has substantial long-term financial consequences for both parties. The legal background to the question of parentage is less emotional, but none the less, very interesting. Under common law, parentage was presumed if the parents were married at the time of conception or of birth, thus establishing legitimacy.
There was a presumption that a married couple would only be engaging in sexual activity with each other, and that the wife would not be engaging similarly with another man. The presumption wasn’t always applicable if the couple were separated, nor if there was evidence of an affair. Obviously, with the passage of time, we can look now at these presumptions and wonder how they could have been considered as evidence of parentage, but now we have hindsight and access to Family Law Sydney legal minds.
To bring the whole issue into a modern context, the introduction of the Marriage Act changed the concept of legitimacy with two major changes – that the legitimacy of a child is established from birth upon the marriage of the child’s parents, and that a child of a void marriage is to be considered as legitimate. This was such a fundamental change, not only in legal terms, but in the way that society viewed the birth of children “out of wedlock”, that the term “illegitimate child”, which was very common pre-1970, is now rarely heard.
These days, there are two ways that family law parentage enquiries are dealt with. The first is a presumption of parentage, and the second is evidence of actual parentage both covered by The Family Law Act. There are five presumptions of parentage – arising from a marriage, from cohabitation, from registration of birth, a court finding and finally from an acknowledgement of paternity. In addition, extra presumptions are used by the Child Support Register to establish parentage and identify the person responsible for child support.
In family law matters, if the question of parentage of a child arises, the courts can order certain tests to be applied to settle the matter. An order can be issued in relation to a child, the mother of the child, or any person who the court believes can assist in determining the parentage of the child. However, there are restrictions if the child is under the age of 18 years. These are complex matters and Family Lawyers Sydney should be consulted for expert advice.
Unfortunately, the nature of many custody disputes are such that the laws mentioned above are necessary to provide a framework for issues to be resolved by independent parties. Family law parentage issues would not need to be aired in court if the adults considered the needs of the children first.
There was a presumption that a married couple would only be engaging in sexual activity with each other, and that the wife would not be engaging similarly with another man. The presumption wasn’t always applicable if the couple were separated, nor if there was evidence of an affair. Obviously, with the passage of time, we can look now at these presumptions and wonder how they could have been considered as evidence of parentage, but now we have hindsight and access to Family Law Sydney legal minds.
To bring the whole issue into a modern context, the introduction of the Marriage Act changed the concept of legitimacy with two major changes – that the legitimacy of a child is established from birth upon the marriage of the child’s parents, and that a child of a void marriage is to be considered as legitimate. This was such a fundamental change, not only in legal terms, but in the way that society viewed the birth of children “out of wedlock”, that the term “illegitimate child”, which was very common pre-1970, is now rarely heard.
These days, there are two ways that family law parentage enquiries are dealt with. The first is a presumption of parentage, and the second is evidence of actual parentage both covered by The Family Law Act. There are five presumptions of parentage – arising from a marriage, from cohabitation, from registration of birth, a court finding and finally from an acknowledgement of paternity. In addition, extra presumptions are used by the Child Support Register to establish parentage and identify the person responsible for child support.
In family law matters, if the question of parentage of a child arises, the courts can order certain tests to be applied to settle the matter. An order can be issued in relation to a child, the mother of the child, or any person who the court believes can assist in determining the parentage of the child. However, there are restrictions if the child is under the age of 18 years. These are complex matters and Family Lawyers Sydney should be consulted for expert advice.
Unfortunately, the nature of many custody disputes are such that the laws mentioned above are necessary to provide a framework for issues to be resolved by independent parties. Family law parentage issues would not need to be aired in court if the adults considered the needs of the children first.
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