Create Signing Order For Legal South Dakota Paternity Forms For Free

Court Adjudication ? legal action that begins with a summons and complaint. A court order establishes the father-child relationship. Adoption. Voluntary Paternity Acknowledgment ? a process that involves signing a form to legally establish the father-child relationship when a child is born to unmarried parents.

Subject to the court's right to award custody of the child to either parent, considering the best interest of the child as to its temporal, mental, and moral welfare the father and mother of any minor child born in wedlock are equally entitled to the child's custody, service, and earnings.

If the child has a presumed father, an action to adjudicate paternity must be brought no later than two years after the birth of the child. (See Section 14-20-42 for the limited exception to the two year deadline.)

To voluntarily acknowledge paternity, both parents must sign a paternity affidavit under oath. By signing the affidavit, the law presumes the named father is the biological father of the child and action can proceed to establish a child support obligation without any future legal proceeding to establish paternity.

In North Dakota, for children who are born out of wedlock, the paternity of the biological father can be established in two ways. The biological father may voluntarily establish his paternity by completing an Acknowledgment of Paternity form or any legal parent may be added to the birth record by way of a court order.

Father's Right to Child Support in North Dakota In cases where the father is deemed the more ?fit? parent and is awarded primary custody, he has equal right to petition for child support and also has equal access to child support enforcement services through the state.