Texas Child Protection Law Bench Book

2024 version: As effective October 1, 2024

E. Presumed Father

A man is a Presumed Father if:

•   He is married to the mother of the child and the child is born during the marriage;

•   He is married to the mother of the child and the child is born before the 301st day after the date the marriage is terminated by death, annulment, declaration of invalidity, or divorce;

•   He is married to the mother of the child before the birth of the child in apparent compliance with the law, even if the attempted marriage is or could be declared invalid and the child is born during the invalid marriage or before the 301st day after the date the marriage it terminated by death, annulment, declaration of invalidity or divorce;

•   He married the mother of the child after the birth of the child in apparent compliance with law, regardless of whether the marriage is or could be declared invalid, he voluntarily asserted his paternity of the child; and

◦   the assertion is in a record filed with the bureau of vital statistics,

◦   he is voluntarily named as the child's father on the child's birth certificate, or

◦   he promised in a record to support the child as his own.

•   During the first two years of the child's life, he continuously resided in the household in which the child resided, and he represented to others that the child was his own. Tex. Fam. Code § 160.204(a).

A presumption of paternity may be rebutted only by:

•   An adjudication under Tex. Fam. Code Subchapter G; or

•   The filing of a valid denial of paternity by a presumed father, pursuant to Tex. Fam. Code § 160.303, in conjunction with the filing by another person of a valid acknowledgement of paternity as provided by Tex. Fam. Code § 160.305. Tex. Fam. Code § 160.204(b).