The Dallas area is home to many different types of families, including nontraditional couples that aren't married. Many of those couples also have children. That can sometimes cause problems if the parents split up and the father hasn't established paternity.

When any family breaks up there are significant legal issues that must be addressed. Examples include property division, alimony, child support and child custody. In unmarried families, the father of a couple's kids may not get a fair child custody agreement unless he has already established paternity.

Unfortunately, our team of family law attorneys has witnessed this tragedy on many occasions. As such, we like to talk about the many benefits of establishing paternity as early as possible for unmarried couples and their kids.

• Benefits for the father include protection of his parental rights, the ability to fight for child custody and frequent access to his children.
• Benefits for the children of unmarried parents include a continued relationship with both parents and access to financial support from each parent.
• Benefits for the mother include the right to acquire child support, helping the children enjoy time with their dad and having a co-parent to help raise the kids and provide guidance and support.

We want to encourage all unmarried parents in our state to establish paternity right away after a child is born. This ensures that all involved parties never lose their right to have a say in child custody agreements and parenting plans. Establishing paternity is not as complex or costly as it was in bygone days and with a lawyer's help can even be a simple process.

Our lawyers urge you to keep reading our blog posts and our website content to learn about other family law issues in the state of Texas.