You might have been involved in a relationship that resulted in a child that you believe to be yours. Now, though, the child's other parent might claim that the child isn't yours at all. Obviously, you might be dealing with a lot of emotions right now because of this situation. If this is the case, you might be curious about which steps you should take next. Just be aware that you don't have to handle this situation on your own, and you probably shouldn't. Instead, you should hire a family lawyer to help you out.

Take the Necessary Steps to Establish Paternity

First of all, before you take any further action in regard to the child in question, you will probably want to find out if you are, in fact, the father of the child. If you don't have any doubts that the child is yours, then you will want to establish proof to the courts — and to the other parent — that shows that you are, in fact, the child's father. A family lawyer often helps clients in these situations with things like DNA testing. Your lawyer can tell you more about DNA testing, can advise you about where to go for this testing, and can help you with any legal steps that you might need to take in order to have this testing done. Then, if the DNA test does prove that you are the father of the child, your lawyer can help you with submitting this paperwork.

Get Help With Custody, Visitation, and Child Support

Once you are able to prove that your child is actually your child, you might be interested in arranging for visitation with the child, or you might even want to fight for shared or even full custody. A family lawyer can advise you about your rights and can help you fight for custody or visitation. An attorney can also help you with child support-related matters.

As you can see, if you think that you are the parent of a child but if the child's other parent claims that you are not the father, you should not deal with this challenging and potentially heartbreaking situation on your own. Instead, you should consider hiring a family lawyer to help you out. Fortunately, there are some great family lawyers out there who regularly help people in this type of situation, so if you need help, you should be able to find an attorney who can assist you. For more information about hiring a family law attorney, contact a local law office.