Travis County Paternity Attorney
The Law Office of Oprea & Weber helps unmarried parents, fathers, mothers, and families across Travis County and Central Texas establish legal parentage and sort out custody, possession, and support afterward. A Travis County paternity attorney is often brought in for a simple reason: biology alone does not make someone a legal parent in Texas, and until a court order or a valid acknowledgment exists, a father may have no enforceable right to see his child and a mother may have no enforceable right to child support.
That gap catches people off guard. A father who has been present since birth can find himself shut out after a breakup with no court order to point to. A mother who has been raising a child alone can discover that she has no support order to enforce. And a man who signed a form at the hospital without thinking much about it may later learn it carried the weight of a court judgment. Getting parentage settled correctly, and then building a parenting plan and support order on top of it, is the work that makes everything else possible.
How Legal Parentage Is Actually Established in Texas
Texas recognizes several routes to legal fatherhood, and which one applies shapes what you need to do. A man married to the mother when the child is born is generally presumed to be the father. An unmarried father can become the legal father by signing an acknowledgment of paternity, usually done at the hospital or later through the proper channels, or by obtaining a court order adjudicating paternity. Genetic testing is commonly used when parentage is disputed, and a court can order it.
The acknowledgment deserves particular attention because people sign it casually. Once signed, it can be rescinded within 60 days. After that window closes, a signer can challenge it only on grounds of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact, and that challenge must come before any court order affecting the child is issued. In other words, a signature at the hospital can become very difficult to undo later, even if doubts surface.
Timing rules apply, too. When a child has a presumed father, a suit to adjudicate parentage generally must be filed before the child’s fourth birthday, subject to exceptions, such as when the presumed father and mother did not live together or have relations around the time of conception, or when misrepresentation kept the presumed father from asserting his rights. When a child already has an acknowledged or adjudicated father, someone who did not sign and wants to challenge generally has four years from the effective date of that acknowledgment or adjudication. These deadlines are one reason not to wait on a paternity question that is nagging at you.
Why Choose Oprea & Weber for a Paternity Case
The Law Office of Oprea & Weber is a boutique divorce and family law firm serving Travis County and the surrounding Williamson, Hays, and Bastrop County communities, along with Austin and Central Texas more broadly. Paternity, SAPCR suits, child custody and visitation, child support, and later modifications and enforcement are all part of what the firm handles, so a paternity case does not have to be handed off once parentage is settled. The same lawyers who help establish the legal relationship can carry the case through the parenting plan and support order that follow.
Kevin Weber, Attorney, and Karen Oprea, Attorney, both graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School. Kevin trained in complex commercial litigation and negotiation at Latham & Watkins in Manhattan, and he also mediates family law disputes as well as representing clients in mediation, which matters when two parents who were never married need to reach a workable schedule without a trial. Karen has briefed and argued cases before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the Texas Courts of Appeals, and the New York appellate courts, a background that helps when a paternity dispute turns on contested legal questions.
The firm keeps its caseload intentionally manageable, and your attorney personally handles your case from the first consultation to the final order. You are not passed to layers of staff or junior associates, and you get direct attorney access and explanations in plain language. Clients have described the firm as knowledgeable, thorough, and caring. One client wrote that Kevin helped with a paternity case after they had used other attorneys before, calling him by far the best. The firm prepares every case as though it may be tried, while pursuing cooperative resolution wherever it is realistic.
Issues That Come Up in Travis County Paternity Cases
- Establishing Paternity for an Unmarried Father: A father with no acknowledgment and no court order has no enforceable right to possession or access. A petition to adjudicate parentage, often combined with a request for conservatorship and possession, puts him on legal footing.
- Genetic Testing Disputes: When parentage is questioned, a court can order testing. The result can establish a father, remove a presumed father from the picture, or confirm what everyone already believed.
- Challenging a Signed Acknowledgment: After the 60-day rescission period, the grounds narrow to fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact. These challenges are fact-intensive and depend on what was said and understood when the form was signed.
- Presumed Father Complications: If the mother was married when the child was born, her husband may be the presumed father even if someone else is the biological father. Sorting that out involves the four-year filing limit and its exceptions.
- Conservatorship and Possession Orders: Once parentage is established, the court decides who holds which rights and how time is divided. For new orders where parents live within 50 miles of each other, the Expanded Standard Possession Order, with Thursday overnights and weekends running through Monday morning, is now the default starting point.
- Child Support for Unmarried Parents: Guideline support is a percentage of the paying parent’s net monthly resources: 20% for one child, 25% for two, 30% for three, 35% for four, and 40% for five, with the five-child percentage as the floor for six or more, applied up to a cap that is adjusted periodically. Courts can depart from guidelines when applying them would be unjust or inappropriate.
- Modifications and Enforcement: Orders can change as lives do. Modifying possession or conservatorship requires a material and substantial change and a finding that the change serves the child’s best interest, and unpaid support or ignored schedules can be enforced.
- Grandparents and Other Non-Parents: Standing for non-parents to seek custody or possession has been narrowed, and the statute now focuses on exclusive care, control, and possession. This affects stepparents and relatives who have helped raise a child.
What to Do If Parentage Is Unsettled
Start by gathering what exists. If you signed an acknowledgment of paternity, find your copy and note the date, because the 60-day rescission clock runs from signing. Collect the child’s birth certificate, any texts or messages that bear on the relationship and parenting history, records of support you have paid or received, and anything showing when you and the other parent lived together. If marriage is in the picture, remember that an informal marriage in Texas can arise from an agreement to be married, living together in Texas as spouses, and holding yourselves out as married, and that can change the analysis entirely.
Do not stop paying support or withhold the child as leverage while parentage is unresolved. Courts look at who acted reasonably, and informal arrangements without an order are easy to dispute later. If the other parent is already refusing contact or withholding information, a written record of your attempts to arrange time with the child is useful. If safety is a concern, a protective order under the Family Code can be sought, and it generally lasts up to two years, with longer orders possible only on specific findings.
Paternity and custody suits in Travis County are filed in the district courts that hear family cases, and contested hearings and trials are generally held in person at the Civil and Family Courts Facility in downtown Austin unless the judge or the parties arrange otherwise. Travis County also has Title IV-D Child Support Courts, which handle cases brought through the Attorney General’s child support program. That is a different track from a private suit, with different dynamics, and a person who has already been contacted by the state about support should talk with a lawyer before assuming the state’s proposal protects their interests. Travis County civil and family courts also publish a standing order for family law cases that sets baseline conduct rules once a suit is on file.
The most common mistake is waiting. Deadlines for challenging parentage are measured in years but they do run, and a father who delays may find his window closed while a mother who delays may leave years of support unclaimed. The second most common is treating an informal arrangement as if it were an order. Only a signed order gives you something a court can enforce.
Frequently Asked Questions About Paternity in Travis County
Does an unmarried father have automatic rights in Texas?
No. An unmarried father has rights only after parentage is legally established, either through a valid acknowledgment of paternity or a court order. Until then, he generally has no enforceable right to possession or to participate in decisions about the child.
What is a SAPCR suit and how does it relate to paternity?
SAPCR stands for Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship. It is the vehicle for deciding conservatorship, possession and access, and child support. When parentage is also in question, the suit can include a request to adjudicate it, so one case resolves both who the legal parents are and what the orders will be.
Can I take back an acknowledgment of paternity I signed?
You can rescind it within 60 days of signing. After that, you can challenge it only on the basis of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact, and the challenge must come before a court order affecting the child has been issued.
How is child support figured for parents who were never married?
The same guidelines apply as in divorce cases. Support is a percentage of the paying parent’s net monthly resources, which include wages, salary, commissions, overtime, tips, and bonuses at 100 percent, with the percentage rising with the number of children. A court can depart from the guidelines when they would be unjust or inappropriate.
Is there a deadline to establish paternity?
There can be. When a child has a presumed father, a suit to adjudicate parentage generally must be filed before the child’s fourth birthday unless an exception applies. When a child has an acknowledged or adjudicated father, a person who did not sign generally has four years from the effective date of the acknowledgment or adjudication. A father trying to establish rights where no one else is a legal father is in a different position, but waiting still makes the case harder.
What if the mother was married to someone else when the child was born?
Her husband may be the presumed father. A biological father who wants legal rights has to deal with that presumption through a properly timed suit. Exceptions exist, for example when the husband and mother did not live together or have relations around the probable time of conception, or when misrepresentation kept someone from asserting paternity, but the facts have to fit.
Will a genetic test result settle everything?
It settles biology, and the court can rely on it to adjudicate parentage. It does not by itself decide custody, possession, or support. Those are separate questions governed by the child’s best interest and the guidelines, and a father who proves paternity still has to build a parenting plan.
Can parents who were never married share equal time?
Yes, if they agree or if the court finds it serves the child’s best interest. The law favors frequent and continuing contact with both parents, but it does not guarantee an equal split. For new orders where parents live within 50 miles of each other, the expanded standard schedule with Thursday overnights and weekends through Monday morning is now the default starting point.
Our existing order uses the old schedule. Does it update automatically?
No. Parents with existing possession orders must file a modification to move to the expanded schedule. A change in the default does not rewrite orders already on the books.
What if the other parent will not follow our order?
Enforcement is available. A court can address missed support payments and violations of the possession schedule, and the remedies depend on what the order says and what has happened. Keeping a clear record of missed payments and denied time makes enforcement far easier.
Can a stepparent or other relative ask for custody or visitation?
Standing for non-parents has been narrowed. The statute now refers to exclusive care, control, and possession of the child, where earlier it required actual care, control, and possession for at least six months. Whether someone qualifies depends heavily on the specific history of who has been raising the child.
Is it worth hiring a lawyer if the other parent and I get along?
Often yes. Cooperation is the best time to get an enforceable order in place, because informal agreements fall apart when circumstances change. An agreed order drafted carefully protects both parents and the child, and it avoids a contested fight later.
Serving Paternity Clients Across Travis County and Central Texas
The firm represents parents throughout Travis County, from downtown Austin and the neighborhoods around the Capitol through South Austin, East Austin, North Austin, and the Westlake and Barton Creek areas. It also works with families in Pflugerville, Manor, Lakeway, Bee Cave, Del Valle, Jollyville, Austin’s Hyde Park and Mueller communities, Rollingwood, West Lake Hills, Sunset Valley, and Lago Vista and Jonestown near the county’s northwest edge.
Beyond Travis County, the firm serves families in neighboring Williamson County, including Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander, Georgetown, and Hutto; in Hays County, including Kyle, Buda, Dripping Springs, and San Marcos; and in Bastrop County, including Bastrop, Elgin, and Smithville. Paternity and custody cases are filed in the county where the child lives, so the court and local practices can differ from one county to the next, and the firm works within each.
Talk With a Travis County Paternity Lawyer
If you are a father who needs legal standing, a mother who needs a support order, or a parent who is questioning an acknowledgment you signed, a conversation with a Travis County paternity lawyer at Oprea & Weber will tell you where you stand and what the deadlines look like. The firm will explain your options in plain language and tell you what a realistic outcome looks like. Call to schedule a consultation and get parentage, custody, and support settled on firm ground.