Paternity In New York
• Marriage. New York state presumes a husband is the father of any children born into a marriage, unless otherwise proven.
• Acknowledgment. Legal paternity can be established via written consent on a legal document.
• Court order. Legal paternity can be established through a court order after evidence has shown the burden of proof.
Legal proceedings to establish paternity are held in family court. They begin when a party files a verified petition with the court. A legally married woman's husband would be named as a party of the proceeding in most instances.
The parties in question will attend a court hearing, at that time they will have the option to confirm or deny paternity of the child in question. Confirming paternity means that no paternity testing will be done. Once a party confirms paternity through consent in court it is legally binding. This consent is difficult to refute later.
If the party named as the alleged father does not consent the court will order DNA testing. Even if the DNA test shows the probability of paternity it can still be disputed. In such cases a hearing will be held to examine the evidence further. If the probability of paternity is greater than 95% New York law presumes legal paternity. During the hearing a man must prove why this should not be the case.
It should be noted that DNA testing can never establish paternity by 100%. DNA testing is done through a chemical analysis that matches proteins. The amount of proteins that match determines a probability of parentage, but never at 100%. Although you can dispute DNA testing results it is difficult and expensive to do so.
Estoppel
In some cases a party may be denied the right of denying paternity. This is granted based on statements or behavior in the past. For instance, if a party consented to paternity previously he my be estopped from denying paternity in future hearings.
Statue of Limitations
New York state law allows the mother to establish paternity during and after her pregnancy, up until the child in question turns 21. After 21 years of age it can be established if support was paid or if paternity is acknowledged by the alleged father.