What If My Spouse Should Not Be the Legal Parent in Oklahoma?
Couples often face many challenges during an Oklahoma divorce. One challenge a couple may face when they have kids is child custody cases that involve a parent who should not be the child’s legal parent but is for whatever reason. Changing the legal parent status can be difficult, but not impossible and simply involves the process of disestablishing parentage. If you have any questions or concerns about this, all you have to do is contact an Oklahoma Family Lawyer for help.
My Options When My Spouse is Not the Legal Parent in Oklahoma
When your spouse should not be the legal parent of your child and this is interfering with your child custody preferences, you have the option of seeking to disestablish parentage in Oklahoma. There are two main ways you can do this through the Oklahoma family court. You can include this in your divorce petition or you can file a separate petition to specifically target disproving parentage.
The steps you take for the first option will vary depending on whether you are filing for divorce or your spouse is filing for divorce. If you are filing a petition for divorce, then you can simply include the disestablishment of parentage in the court order that will be used to finalize your divorce. However, this can be complicated and you may want to ask for help from a lawyer.
If your spouse is filing for divorce and you are submitting a response to petition about a marriage, then you can write out your disestablishment of parentage preference in your response. When it comes to filing a separate petition to disprove parentage, you will need to prove that you and your spouse did not live with each other when the child was created and did not have sexual intercourse at this time.
Common Challenges with Disestablishing Paternity in Oklahoma
Disestablishing parentage challenges in Oklahoma are not uncommon and can make this process stressful. Some people struggle with the obstacle of having the supposed wrong legal parent take a genetic test. Genetic tests might be avoided because of the financial cost or lack of easy access.
In cases where the parent refuses genetic testing, other evidence will be needed to disprove their legal parentage. This can be tricky depending on the circumstances and what evidence is readily available. Paternity acknowledgment forms might be signed by a parent, but this does not always mean that parent is the biological parent. The challenge is proving this if the wrong legal parent signed this form and pretended to be the biological parent. Oklahoma paternity fraud can happen to anyone.
Family Attorney in Oklahoma
Proving disestablishment of parentage can be difficult when you are unsure of what evidence to look for and when the other parent is fighting against you. Consider hiring an Oklahoma Divorce Attorney to see what steps you can take to disestablish parentage. Feel free to call the Putnam Law Office today at (405)-849-9149 for a consultation. Mr. Putnam is an Oklahoma City, OK attorney who is dedicated to his clients.
