Establishing Paternity in Kansas

If you and your child's other parent were never married, Kansas law does not automatically treat you as legal parents. Until paternity is established, there is no order for a court to enforce on custody, parenting time, or child support, whatever the two of you may have agreed between yourselves. The Kansas Parentage Act lays out three ways to get there: a legal presumption, a signed acknowledgment, or a court judgment backed by genetic testing. Here is how each one works.

Why paternity comes before custody, parenting time, or support

Every Kansas order on child custody, parenting time, or child support rests on an established legal parent and child relationship. If you were married when your child was born, that relationship exists automatically. If you were not, it does not exist until it is established under the Kansas Parentage Act, K.S.A. 23-2201 through 23-2225.

K.S.A. 23-2215 shows why that order matters. The court provides for a child's support only once it has adjudged a party to be the parent, and it enters custody, residency, and parenting time orders only when both parents are parties to the case. A father with no acknowledged or adjudicated relationship has no parenting time to enforce. A mother cannot collect support from a man the law does not yet recognize as the father.

The three ways a father and child relationship is established

K.S.A. 23-2207 recognizes three paths to a legal father and child relationship: a court judgment under the Kansas Parentage Act, a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity that meets the requirements of K.S.A. 23-2204, or an unrebutted presumption under K.S.A. 23-2208. A voluntary acknowledgment establishes the relationship only in the absence of a final judgment naming someone else, and only for as long as it has not been revoked under K.S.A. 23-2209.

The presumptions of paternity, and how one gets rebutted

K.S.A. 23-2208(a) presumes a man is the father in six situations:

• He and the mother are, or were, married when the child was born, or the child arrived within 300 days after the marriage ended (K.S.A. 23-2208(a)(1)).
• He attempted to marry the mother in apparent legal compliance, and the child was born during that marriage, within 300 days after it ended, or within 300 days after the couple stopped living together (K.S.A. 23-2208(a)(2)).
• He married the mother after the birth and either acknowledged the child in writing, was named as the father on the birth certificate with his consent, or promised support in writing or by court order (K.S.A. 23-2208(a)(3)).
• He notoriously or in writing recognized paternity, including through a hospital-based acknowledgment (K.S.A. 23-2208(a)(4)).
• Genetic testing shows a 97 percent or greater probability that he is the father (K.S.A. 23-2208(a)(5)).
• He already carries a court-ordered duty to support the child, regardless of marriage to the mother (K.S.A. 23-2208(a)(6)).

How a presumption gets rebutted

A presumption is a starting point, not a final answer. It may be rebutted only by clear and convincing evidence or by a court decree naming a different man as the father, under K.S.A. 23-2208(b). When two presumptions conflict, K.S.A. 23-2208(c) resolves it by weighing which rests on the stronger considerations of policy and logic, one of which is the child's best interests among the several the court may weigh, not a single test that decides the case alone.

The voluntary acknowledgment of paternity, and your window to undo it

Most unmarried parents establish paternity the simple way, by signing a voluntary acknowledgment. K.S.A. 23-2203 sets up a hospital-based program for newborns of unwed mothers, and the acknowledgment can also be completed later through a participating physician's office or the state registrar of vital statistics.

Before you sign, K.S.A. 23-2204(b) requires a written disclosure of what it does: it creates a father and child relationship only a court can end, makes both parents responsible for support, gives both rights to custody and parenting time absent a different order, and gives both the right to talk with an attorney first.

You are not locked in the moment you sign. Under K.S.A. 23-2209(e), the man named as the father, the mother, or the child may file to revoke it until the child turns one, or, if the signer was a minor, until one year after turning 18, unless the court finds the child is older than one and revoking would not serve the child's best interest. File within 60 days of signing, or before any related court proceeding, whichever comes first, and no fault has to be shown. File later, and the person seeking revocation carries the burden of proving fraud, duress, or a material mistake of fact. Support obligations do not pause during a revocation case absent good cause, and a revoked acknowledgment does not create a presumption of paternity, though the court may still weigh it as evidence for other purposes.