Paternity is the term by which a father is granted legally enforceable rights and responsibilities to his child. Paternity may be established in one of three ways.

A paternity proceeding is commenced in Family Court by the filing of a verified petition from the party seeking to establish paternity. If the woman is married, her husband must usually be named as a party to the proceeding.

Once the parties are in court, they have the option to consent to an order of paternity. Consenting to an order of paternity means that there is no question as to who is the father of the child, and that neither side is requesting blood or DNA tests. It is very difficult to overturn a consent order of paternity, so if there is any question of paternity, the order should not be entered on consent. Such an order may very well stand even if down the road it is found that the legal father is not the biological father.

If the case goes to a hearing, it is the party seeking to establish paternity to prove paternity by clear and convincing evidence. If, however, the probability of paternity in the blood or DNA tests is 95% or higher, New York law presumes the man is the father, and it is now his burden to overcome this presumption. At the end of the hearing, the court will consider all properly introduced evidence, and either issue an order of paternity or dismiss the paternity petition.

Blood and DNA testing can exclude a man from being the father, but they cannot establish paternity by 100%. Blood and DNA testing involves a chemical analysis of matching proteins, and determining what the probability of paternity is based upon a statistical analysis of the number of matches. While 100% can never be reached, DNA tests can be accurate to a fraction of a percent.

It is possible that a party in a paternity proceeding may be estopped (prevented) from denying paternity based upon that party's past actions or statements. For example, if the party has alleged paternity in some other court proceeding or document, that party may be prevented from denying paternity. Likewise, if a man has held himself out to be the father of a child, he may be estopped from denying paternity in court. Finally, the actions of a putative father can affect the statute of limitations for a paternity proceeding. Each case is fact sensitive, and must be analyzed on its own.

The time to commence a paternity proceeding under Article 5 of the Family Court Act is any time during the pregnancy of the mother, or after the child is born, but not after twenty one years, unless paternity is somehow acknowledged by the father, or he paid support.