As a woman who is pregnant now, the most important thing to you is that your child knows who their father is. You were dating someone a few months ago with whom you decided to break up,
Then, a month or so later, you started having a sexual relationship with someone new. Around two months after that, you found out that you were pregnant.
Due to the timeline, it’s possible that your former partner is the father. In this kind of situation, it’s a good idea to look into paternity testing. Paternity testing will make sure you find the correct father and that there is no question about your child’s heritage.
In North Dakota and Minnesota, the laws about how paternity is established are clear. There are four ways that a man can establish paternity.
The first is to hold himself out as the father. Another is to be married to the mother or to be recently divorced (within 300 days). A third way is to sign an acknowledgement of paternity. Finally, there is the DNA test, which can provide an accurate result to determine paternity.
If you’re unsure of which person is the father of your child, it’s a good idea to ask both to take a paternity test. If one will but the other will not, have them complete it first. Then, there will be a compelling reason to ask the other person to complete the test if it turns out that the person who did take it was not the father.
Our website has more on DNA testing and other ways to establish paternity if you’re ready to do so.
