Paternity/parentage establishment means determining the parent of a child. If a child's parents were not married or in a civil marriage/union when the child was born, the law does not recognize the other parent unless paternity/parentage is legally established. Establishing paternity/parentage will give your child the same rights and benefits as children born to married parents. These rights and benefits include:
Establishing paternity/parentage gives both parents legal rights to:
The easiest way to establish paternity is administratively (without going to court) via the Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity (VAP) program whereby both biological parents sign a legal document, agreeing the child is theirs.
Signing the VAP can be done at the hospital after the baby is born, or at a local Office of Vital Statistics, or Child Support Services office, anytime until the child turns 18, or 19 years of age if the child is still in High School.
When unmarried parents sign the VAP, the parent's names will be placed on the birth certificate by the Office of Vital statistics. If either parent changes their mind, they have 60 days to appeal. If the mother was married during the 300 days before the child was born, OR if the mother was not married, but during the first two years of the birth of the child, another man continuously lived with the child and acknowledged the child as his own, then that person is considered the presumed father. In order for the mother and biological father to complete the Voluntary Acknowledgement, both the mother and the presumed father must complete a form called the Denial of Paternity (DOP). Both the Denial of Paternity (DOP) and the Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity (VAP) must be filed with the Office of Vital Statistics (OVS). Neither document is valid until both have been filed.
If a couple wishes to sign a VAP, but is not sure who the biological father is, the mother, father, and child(ren) should obtain a paternity (genetic or DNA) test. The test can show up to 99% probability whether a man is the child's biological father.
Delaware's Private Paternity Testing Program offers a discounted rate of $100 per person, for a total of $300 per test trio: Mother, child and alleged father.