Establishing Paternity
Married Parents: When a child is born to married parents, the husband is presumed to be the legal father and his name appears on the child’s birth certificate. In this situation, paternity does not need to be established to proceed with the child support process.
Unmarried Parents: When a child is born to unmarried parents, paternity must be established to proceed with the child support process. This may occur in two ways: the parents may sign a Certificate of Parentage (COP) or file with the court for an order of paternity establishment.
New Jersey’s Paternity Opportunity Program (POP) facilitates paternity establishment for children born to unmarried parents. POP requires hospitals to provide unmarried parents with the opportunity to voluntarily acknowledge paternity. If the father agrees that a child is his, he may sign a Certificate of Parentage (COP) to establish legal paternity. The first opportunity to sign a COP is at the hospital, right after a baby is born. A COP also may be signed after leaving the hospital at a state or county registrar’s office or at the county board of social services. For more information regarding POP, visit NJ-Paternity.com.
If either parent is concerned that the child has a different biological father, a genetic test may be requested by either parent or ordered by the court. Both parents and the child must be tested for the genetic test to be completed.