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Texas Paternity Laws

When a child’s legal father isn’t clear, or needs to be established, we help you secure the parental rights, or protections, that follow from paternity under Texas law.

Paternity in Texas is established three ways: by legal presumption, by a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity, or by court adjudication, usually with genetic testing. Until paternity is legally established, a father has no enforceable rights and a child has no enforceable support. Establishing it is the gateway to everything that follows: conservatorship, possession, and support.

At Hicks Family Lawyers, we treat paternity as a matter of certainty and structure. Whether you are securing your rights as a father, confirming support for a child, or responding to a claim, the objective is a clear legal status the whole family can build on.

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When Texas Presumes Paternity

Texas law presumes a man is a child’s father in defined circumstances. Tex. Fam. Code sec. 160.204[1] :
  • Marriage at birth. He is married to the mother and the child is born during the marriage.
  • Recent marriage. The child is born before the 301st day after the marriage ended by death, annulment, invalidity, or divorce.
  • Holding out. He lived continuously with the child during the child’s first two years and represented to others that the child was his own.
A presumed father is the legal father unless and until the presumption is properly rebutted. That status carries real weight, including notice rights and strict deadlines for anyone who would challenge it.

Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity

When parents agree, paternity can be established without a lawsuit through a signed acknowledgment of paternity. Tex. Fam. Code sec. 160.301.[2] Once effective, a valid acknowledgment establishes the parent-child relationship with the force of a court determination. The window to undo it is short. A signer may rescind before the earlier of the 60th day after the acknowledgment takes effect or the first court proceeding involving the child. Tex. Fam. Code sec. 160.307.[3] After that, the acknowledgment can be challenged only on fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact. Tex. Fam. Code sec. 160.308.[4] Signing should be an informed decision, not a hallway formality. The document deserves careful review before it is signed, because the law makes it difficult to undo by design.

Establishing Paternity Through the Courts

When there is no agreement, a suit to establish paternity adjudicates the parent-child relationship, and the court generally must order genetic testing when a party properly requests it, subject to exceptions that protect presumed fathers. Tex. Fam. Code sec. 160.502.[5] Adjudication settles more than biology. In the same case, the court can set conservatorship, the possession schedule, and support, so the family leaves with a complete structure rather than a single answer.

Challenging Paternity and the Deadlines That Govern

When a child has a presumed father, a suit to adjudicate parentage generally must be filed by the child’s fourth birthday. Tex. Fam. Code sec. 160.607.[6] Narrow exceptions apply, including when the presumed father and mother neither lived together nor had intercourse during the probable time of conception, or when a mistaken belief of fatherhood rested on misrepresentation. When a child has no presumed, acknowledged, or adjudicated father, no such deadline applies, and a proceeding may be brought at any time. Tex. Fam. Code sec. 160.606.[7] These are consequential cases, and challenging paternity reaches support, inheritance, and a child’s sense of identity. We handle them with discretion and evidence, because steadiness serves everyone involved, most of all the child.

Why Paternity Shapes Everything After

Legal parentage carries the full architecture of the parent-child relationship: the duty of support, the right to seek conservatorship and possession, access to the child’s records, inheritance rights in both directions, and eligibility for benefits. Certainty is the point. Once the legal relationship is settled, the family can plan schooling, schedules, and finances on solid ground instead of an open question.

How Hicks Family Lawyers Approaches Paternity

These cases mix hard deadlines, scientific evidence, and private family history, and they reward calm precision. We move quickly where the statute demands it and carefully everywhere else. The result we work toward is simple: a legal status that is certain, a parenting and support structure that follows from it, and a path forward the child can rely on.

Related Practice Areas

Paternity is the foundation the rest is built on:
  • Child custody. Conservatorship and possession follow parentage through our Texas child custody practice.
  • Child support. The duty of support attaches with parentage, handled through our Texas child support practice.
  • Divorce. When parentage questions arise inside a marriage ending, our Texas divorce practice governs the wider case.

Plan What Comes Next

A settled legal relationship gives a child something durable: a parent whose rights and duties are certain, and a family that can plan on solid ground. That certainty is worth establishing well.

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Let's walk through what happens next.

Tell us what you're facing. We'll explain your options and the likely path - clearly, and without pressure.

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Common questions

Texas Paternity FAQ

Three paths: a legal presumption, most commonly through marriage; a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity signed by both parents; or a court adjudication, typically supported by genetic testing. The right path depends on agreement and circumstances.

Not by itself. The birth certificate reflects paternity; the acknowledgment of paternity establishes it. For unmarried parents, the acknowledgment signed at the hospital is the legally operative document.

Usually, yes. With a presumed father, a challenge generally must be filed by the child’s fourth birthday, subject to narrow exceptions. Acknowledgments face their own short rescission window and limited grounds afterward. Timing decides many of these cases.

Her husband is generally the presumed father, and that presumption must be addressed before another man’s paternity can be established. The four-year deadline and its exceptions usually control what is possible.

It establishes the parent-child relationship, which is the prerequisite. Conservatorship and possession are then decided under the child’s best interest, usually in the same proceeding, so rights and schedule can be built together.

Sources

[1] Tex. Fam. Code sec. 160.204 (Presumption of Paternity) | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.160.htm#160.204

[2] Tex. Fam. Code sec. 160.301 (Acknowledgment of Paternity) | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.160.htm#160.301

[3] Tex. Fam. Code sec. 160.307 (Procedures for Rescission) | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.160.htm#160.307

[4] Tex. Fam. Code sec. 160.308 (Challenge After Expiration of Period for Rescission) | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.160.htm#160.308

[5] Tex. Fam. Code sec. 160.502 (Order for Testing) | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.160.htm#160.502

[6] Tex. Fam. Code sec. 160.607 (Time Limitation: Child Having Presumed Father) | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.160.htm#160.607

[7] Tex. Fam. Code sec. 160.606 (No Time Limitation: Child Having No Presumed, Acknowledged, or Adjudicated Father) | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.160.htm#160.606