Georgia Father’s Rights: What is Legitimation Legal Explained #shorts
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In Georgia, if a child is born to parents who are not married, the father has no legal rights to the child until a court grants legitimation - even if he signs the birth certificate. This short explains what legitimation is and why it is the essential first step for unmarried fathers.
All right, what is a legitimation? So, in Georgia, if a child is born to uh mother and father and they’re not married, the father does not have any rights until they go to court and get legitimized. So, even if you sign the birth certificate, you are not legitimated as the father. So, and the reason the and the real-life impact is this. Many times, mothers and fathers will be cool with each other until they’re not. Right. Now, the person that impacts the most is the father because the father will think that they are taking the child to meet the grandparents at the family reunion on the 4th of July. And the mother and father will fall out. And the mother will say, "You’re not taking the child." And the father will be there to pick the child up to go. They will get into a disagreement, and then the mother will say, "Leave." "No, I’m not leaving without child." They call the police. The police get there. Father says, "I haven’t done anything. Yada yada yada." Father had. But, the police officer is instructed to ask, "Sir, do you have any paperwork that shows that you’re supposed to have this child this weekend?" "No." "So, I’m going to need you to take that up in court. I’m going to need you to leave the premises." Because the father is not legitimated, he doesn’t have any visitation order. He doesn’t have anything in place that says he is the father. By law, the mother is recognized as the mother because they birth the child. Right.
