Can i establish my parentage in court while i am incarcerated?

Yes, you can establish paternity/parentage while you are incarcerated, but it will be difficult.

If you establish paternity/parentage through a court order, you are required to file the correct forms and “serve” them – give them formal notice - on the other party in the suit. You also have to make arrangements to either attend court hearings in person or through a videoconference. You can do all these things while you are incarcerated but it may not be easy:

Forms: We recommend you obtain assistance from one or all of the following:

    You can write to the Family Law Facilitator in the county where your child is currently living
    Law clerks in the law library (if you have one in your institution)
    Family and Friends – they can call the Family Law Facilitator for you or download the correct forms off the internet at http://www.courts.ca.gov/forms.htm and send them to you.

Filing fees: If you have limited funds, we recommend you try and obtain a file fee waiver from the court.

Attending court hearings: you can do one of the following:

    Request to be transported to court for the hearings. For more information on your right to be transported to court see PG. 742.
    An alternative to your physically appearing in court is appearing by telephone or videoconference. We recommend that you ask for one of these options if transportation to court is not possible or feasible for you.[2518]

If you establish paternity/parentage by signing a “Declaration of Paternity,” it must be signed by both parents at the same time and notarized. If you are incarcerated, this may not be possible. Another challenge is that the form is in triplicate and is only available through government offices such as county Social Services, Registrars of Births and Deaths, and Family Law Facilitators.[2519]

  1. 2518

    Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, Child Custody and Visiting Rights Manual for Incarcerated Parents (2015). This is a detailed resource for all information related to filing a court case in family court in order to establish paternity.

  2. 2519

    If you have the cooperation of the mother, then she or you can contact the county offices for assistance in signing the form. You can also ask for assistance from the prison’s litigation office, your counselor, or other institution staff. Perhaps the mother can go to your institution and you can both sign the same form there in front of a notary. Or, perhaps you can each sign separate forms that say the same thing and have them separately notarized.” Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, Incarcerated Parents Manual, Rights and Responsibilities (2015).