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Protect your family -- know your rights!
As citizens, we all have legal rights that help protect us. Read on to see what rights specifically you and your family are entitled to.

Child's Rights

Children have the right to be supported by their parents whether the parents are married, divorced, or have never been married. Establishing paternity can be very beneficial to a child. It allows a child born to unmarried parents to have the same benefits as a child with married parents, including:

• Knowledge of the identity of both parents
• Benefits from the father's medical, dental, or life insurance
• Family medical history is known to give to health professionals
• The father's name on the birth certificate
• Financial support (child support, Social Security, veteran benefits, other allowances)

  Father's Rights
  
  Under Florida laws, a father who is not married to the mother is not automatically entitled to many rights unless paternity is first established. Although the Florida Department of Revenue can establish paternity for child support purposes, this does not give parental rights to the father. These rights can be given to the father through a paternity agreement or court paternity action. If paternity is established, the father will have legal father rights, including the right to:
  

• Seek a court order for visitation rights
• Request a change or modification in custody
• Request child support if he has custody of the child
• Assist in important legal decisions regarding the child

  Mother's Rights
  
  A Paternity case in the State of Florida is a lawsuit to determine the natural and legal father of a minor child and to confer the rights and duties of a parent. The Mother in a paternity action has the right to raise and litigate the minor child's rights on the child's behalf.
  
  The mother has the right to bring a paternity action on behalf of the minor child against an alleged father to determine whether he is the biological and legal father of the minor child. The mother is designated under the laws of the State of Florida the natural custodian of the minor child. This means that the mother has the initial legal right to exercise sole parental responsibility over the minor child until a legal father has been determined by a court of law. Once a paternity action is filed and a legal father is determined by a court of law the mother will most likely have to share the parental responsibility concerning the minor child with the father. If the mother does not wish to share these rights with the legal father then she should consider whether she should file a paternity action.
  
  The mother has the right to request, on the minor child's behalf, that the father pay child support, cover the minor child with medical and health insurance, pay a portion of the non-covered medical expenses of the minor child, pay a portion of the mother's medical expenses related to the birth of the minor child, and pay a portion of the mother's attorney's fees and litigation expenses.

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