Paternity & Parentage
Legal parentage is the foundation everything else rests on: parenting plans, child support, inheritance, insurance and survivor benefits, and the simple legal right to be in a child's life. Washington's Uniform Parentage Act (Chapter 26.26A RCW) governs how parentage is established, challenged, and protected. The Law Office of Chad Foster represents parents, mothers, fathers, and nonbiological parents, throughout King and Snohomish Counties.
How Parentage Is Established
Acknowledgment of parentage. The simplest path: both parents sign an acknowledgment of parentage, often at the hospital after birth, which is filed with the State and has the force of a court judgment once effective. A signer may rescind within a short window after signing, and later challenges are sharply limited and deadline-driven, so no one should sign an acknowledgment they have doubts about. If there is any question, resolve it first.
Presumptions. A person is presumed to be a child's parent in defined situations, most commonly when the child is born during a marriage or registered domestic partnership, or when the person lived with the child for the child's first four years and openly held the child out as their own (RCW 26.26A.115). Presumptions can be confirmed or rebutted in a parentage proceeding.
Court adjudication and genetic testing. When parentage is disputed, either parent, the child's representative, or the State can start a parentage action. Courts may order genetic testing, and the statute sets standards for how test results establish or exclude a parent. But modern parentage law is not only about DNA. The statute recognizes that parentage can rest on consent, function, and the child's lived family as well as biology.
De facto parentage. Washington recognizes de facto parents (RCW 26.26A.440): a person who has fully and consistently parented a child, with the support of the child's legal parent and without expectation of compensation, can petition to be adjudicated the child's legal parent. This matters for stepparents, same-sex partners who never completed an adoption, and relatives who have raised a child as their own.
What Parentage Unlocks
Once parentage is established, the parent has both the rights and obligations of any parent: standing to seek a parenting plan and residential time, the obligation and right of child support under Chapter 26.19 RCW, and the child gains inheritance rights, potential Social Security and veterans benefits, and access to family medical history. For unmarried fathers especially, an acknowledgment or adjudication is the difference between being a parent in fact and a parent in law.
Challenging or Disestablishing Parentage
Parentage can be challenged as well as established, but the law deliberately makes this hard, because children need stability more than adults need certainty. Challenges to acknowledgments and presumptions face strict deadlines and limited grounds, and courts may decline to disestablish a parent even with genetic evidence where doing so would harm the child. If you believe parentage was established in error, get advice before the window closes; if someone is challenging your parentage, do not assume DNA settles it against you.
Our parentage services include:
- Parentage actions to establish or confirm legal parentage
- Acknowledgment of parentage advice, rescissions, and challenges
- Genetic testing motions and disputes
- De facto parentage petitions for nonbiological parents
- Parenting plans and child support once parentage is established
- Coordination with adoption and assisted reproduction matters
Common Questions
I signed an acknowledgment but doubt I'm the father. What now?
Move quickly. The law allows rescission only within a short period after signing, and challenges after that are limited to grounds like fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact, with firm deadlines. The longer an acknowledgment stands, the harder it is to undo.
Can a mother establish paternity if the father won't cooperate?
Yes. A parentage action can proceed without the other parent's cooperation, and the court can compel genetic testing. The State's Division of Child Support can also initiate parentage establishment in connection with support.
Does genetic testing always control?
No. Acknowledged, presumed, and de facto parentage can prevail over genetics in defined circumstances, particularly where a person has functioned as the child's parent. Courts weigh the statute's requirements, not just a lab result.
Get Started
Parentage cases are deadline-sensitive, and the right first step depends on your situation. Contact the Law Office of Chad Foster to talk it through.
Call us at 425.785.8679 or email help@ChadAtLaw.com.