• Overview of paternity rights in the state of Michigan.Baby image by Yvonne Bogdanski from Fotolia.com
  
  The statutes of the state of Michigan establish rights and procedures that permit the establishment of paternity. Rights attach to both the birth mother and the putative father in paternity disputes. Putative father is the legal term identifying a man as a likely father of a child born out of wedlock. Both voluntary and judicial resources are available to Michigan residents to establish paternity.
  
  

Affidavit of Paternity

• One of the paternity rights established by the laws of Michigan involves what is known as an affidavit of paternity. If the unmarried birth mother and presumed birth father of a child desire, they have the right under Michigan law to sign what is known as an affidavit of paternity, according to the Department of Human Services. The affidavit of paternity is available at the hospital where the child is born. The form includes information on how and where to file the document once completed by both parents. There is no charge for using this process to establish the paternity of a child born in Michigan.
  
  

Proving Paternity

• In a case where a mother or alleged father is attempting to prove paternity, either individual is able to file a paternity case, according to Michigan law. Each party has a right to demonstrate that the alleged father is in fact the biological father of the child.
  
  

Disproving Paternity

• An alternative type of paternity case pursuant to Michigan law is one brought to exclude a particular man as the father of a child. Either the birth mother or the man alleged to be the father has the right to file a paternity case in order to exclude a man as the biological father of the child.
  
  

Custody

• Michigan law establishes the rights of both parents to seek custody of a child in a paternity case. There is a preference in Michigan law to work toward both parents having joint legal custody of a child. Joint legal custody establishes the rights of both parents to share in making major decisions on behalf of a child. With an infant in a paternity case, primary residential custody likely will be established with the mother. However, the father possesses the right to parenting time or visitation with the child.