What’s the benefits of Legal Paternity Testing? Establishing paternity is important to ensure a child’s well being and to fully protect the children rights. Definitively knowing one’s biological parentage is important for several reasons:
* It allows access to legal and social benefits, including social security, veteran’s, and inheritance benefits.
* It provides an accurate medical history for the child, giving the healthcare provider additional insight during diagnosis and in managing the child’s health.
* It strengthens the bond between father and child.
With legal paternity testing when there is a question on who the father is, paternity testing should be done as soon as possible. Most states have laws that require an unmarried couple to fill out an Acknowledgment of Paternity (AOP) form at the hospital to legally establish who the father. If the couple is unmarried and the mother has not been married in the last 300 days, then no father will be listed on the birth certificate until this legally binding form is filled out. The AOP is sent to the states Bureau of Vital statistics, is recorded, and the father listed becomes the legal father.
