“A paternity action (also commonly known as a parentage action) is the method of officially establishing a parent-child relationship and obtaining orders for custody, visitation and/or child support for unmarried parents. Paternity is an equal-opportunity legal action; either parent can seek to establish a parent-child relationship. The custodial parent may want to file a paternity action to establish formal custody orders if the other parent is interfering with custodial rights or threatening to take the child, or to obtain child support orders. A non-custodial parent may want to file a paternity action if the other parent is denying access to the child or interfering with visitation rights.”
“Paternity actions are governed by the Uniform Parentage Act (UPA) under Family Code section 7600 et seq. The California Family Code and the UPA set out a number of ways in which a person can be established as the legal parent. The most common ways of establishing paternity are: The presumption that a person is the parent of a child if he or she receives the child into his home and openly holds the child out as his or her own, see Family Code section 7611(d), A Voluntary Declaration of Paternity has been signed, see Family Code section 7570 et seq, and A Judgment of paternity has already been made in a paternity action brought by the Child Support Services Department (CSSD) pursuant to Family Code sections 17400, 17404, and 17416.”
“Establishing paternity is a two-way street. Once a person has been established as the legal parent, he or she will be obligated to pay child support, but he or she will also usually be given rights to visitation at a minimum, and could be given legal or physical custody rights as well. Pursuing a paternity action means creating a long-term relationship that lasts until the minor reaches 18 years of age.”
[California Family Law Basics [certain citations omitted]]
