Paternity Attorneys
6,790 verified paternity attorneys across the United States. Establishment and contestation of paternity, including support and custody. Compare verified paternity attorneys nationwide by experience, peer ratings, and client reviews — get matched with counsel in any state, free for clients.
Sergio Cabanas is a dedicated divorce lawyer and family law advocate with a deeply personal mission: to protect families from the very system that onc...
Amanda Medlin Bellotti is a lawyer practicing family law, alternative dispute resolution, mediation and 40 other areas of law. Amanda Medlin received ...
The founder of the Law Offices of John Schmidt & Associates PLLC, John has a personal devotion to help struggling families. The happiness and welfare ...
Legal matters can be emotionally difficult unless one has an aggressive, intelligent, and vigilant lawyer who understands the legal system and who can...
Mr. Roberts was a partner in a major Suffolk County law firm until 1997, when he established his own practice concentrating in matrimonial law and fam...
Marck Joseph, Esq., is the founder and owner of The Joseph Firm, a South Florida-based practice focusing exclusively on Marital and Family Law. His st...
Jessenia Rosales is a lawyer practicing family law, alimony, annulment and 113 other areas of law. Jessenia received a B.A. degree from University of ...
Mike began practicing law in 2002 in Fort Wayne and the surrounding counties. Mike has focused his scope of legal practice to all issues involving fam...
Mr. Travis L Turner is a lawyer practicing family law, child custody, child support and 13 other areas of law.
Reagen Kulseth practices at The Law Office of Reagen Kulseth Read Full Bio
Brandon B. McDonald is a lawyer practicing family law, adoptions, alimony and 39 other areas of law.
PAULINA FORREST is a graduate of the University of Central Florida (B.A., 2007) and Florida Coastal School of Law (J.D., 2010). She graduated law scho...
Mr. Stephen Wright Williams is a lawyer practicing adoptions, child custody, interstate child custody and 22 other areas of law.
Phi Alpha Delta.
Michelle J. Perkins was admitted to the bar in 1994 and practiced solo for two years before co-founding Owens & Perkins with her grandfather, C.D.
Jeffrey D. Stearman is a lawyer practicing alimony, marriage & prenuptials, uncontested divorce and 21 other areas of law.
Myers N. Massengill was born and raised in Bristol, Tenessee.
Michael D Fluke is an experienced Criminal and Family Law attorney whose practice focuses on complex Divorce and Family Law matters and substantial Cr...
Attorney is Double Board Certified in Civil Trial Law and Marital and Family Law, Florida Board of Legal Specialization and Education. Mr.
David L. Hirschberg is a lawyer practicing family law, divorce, parenting & support and 6 other areas of law.
Laura McQuesten is a lawyer practicing family law, mediation, adoptions and 7 other areas of law. Laura received a B.B.A. degree from Texas Tech Unive...
Laura L. McQuesten is a lawyer practicing family law, mediation, adoptions and 7 other areas of law.
Hillary J Moonay is a lawyer practicing family law, adoption, child & spousal support and 13 other areas of law. Hillary received a B.A. degree from U...
Fred A. Joshua is a trial-tested family law litigator serving Cook, DuPage, and Will counties , with a practice focused on high-asset divorce and comp...
Danielle Davis Sczech is a lawyer practicing child custody, child support, divorce and 15 other areas of law. Danielle received a B.A. degree from The...
Zachary Lawson Bayne is a lawyer practicing family law, domestic violence, paternity and 4 other areas of law. Zachary received a B.A. degree from Uni...
John Edward Harding is a lawyer practicing divorce, post-divorce, parenting time and 4 other areas of law. John Edward received a B.A. degree from St.
Ms. Jami Milner Turner is a lawyer practicing family law, child custody disputes, divorce and 7 other areas of law.
For 45 years, Lawrence S. Katz has helped clients in Florida, throughout the United States and abroad.
Victoria King Lewis is a lawyer practicing child custody, child support, divorce and 5 other areas of law. Victoria received a A.B. degree from Welles...
Mr. Aryeh Avnet is a lawyer practicing personal injury, criminal defense, family law and 29 other areas of law.
Sarah E. Recker is a lawyer practicing family law, divorce, child custody and 13 other areas of law.
Kent P. Tierney has been practicing law for over 20 years.
Nova Levante is a lawyer practicing bankruptcy – chapters 7 and 13, family law - divorce, dissolution, custody, parenting time, adoption, estate plann...
Bonnie Klein Rhoden is a seasoned attorney with a diverse background and a passion for modernizing legal services. Born and raised in Philadelphia, sh...
Julie Luhrsen represents the injured and she also helps those facing divorce and other family law issues. Like Atticus Finch, the fictional hero of Ha...
David I. Schachter practices law at The Schachter Law Firm, LLC.
Theodore J. Finn "Ted" was raised in Longmont, Colorado, attended Niwot High School locally and then graduated from the University of Northern Colorad...
Ms. Teresa Lynn Doepke is a lawyer practicing criminal law, drivers license suspension, adoptions and 8 other areas of law.
Michael is an experienced divorce lawyer whose practice consists of issues including spousal support or alimony, child custody and visitation and chil...
Aaron T. Blase is a lawyer practicing divorce, paternity, child decision-making and 4 other areas of law.
Paul Chatzky is a lawyer practicing divorce, family law, premarital agreements and 8 other areas of law. Paul received a B.A. degree from University o...
Cary Alexander Levinson is a lawyer practicing alimony, business, child support and 10 other areas of law. Cary received a B.A. degree from University...
Amira Dajani Fox is a lawyer practicing criminal defense, criminal law, assault and battery and 87 other areas of law. Amira received a B.A. degree fr...
Mr. Donnie Brandon Epperson is a lawyer practicing family law, divorce, child custody and 11 other areas of law.
Roger Albert Isla is a lawyer practicing personal injury, accidents, animal attacks and 79 other areas of law. Roger received a B.S. degree from Franc...
Mr. Ross Alan Keene is a lawyer practicing family law, divorce, alimony and 11 other areas of law.
Mr. Carl Joseph Ohall is a lawyer practicing automobile accidents, child custody, divorce and 48 other areas of law.
Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Law and Circuit Civil Mediator; Collaborative Lawyers of South Florida Co-Author and Lecturer- Florida Bar Cons...
Mr. Aaron D.
Ms. Sara Jennifer Singer is a lawyer practicing family law, alimony-spousal support, paternity and 10 other areas of law.
Aaron D. Bundy is a lawyer practicing family law, divorce, marital property division and 34 other areas of law.
Bari Zell Weinberger was awarded a Juris Doctorate in 1997 from Suffolk University Law School, and has dedicated her practice exclusively to the field...
Bari Zell Weinberger is the owner and Managing Partner of Weinberger Divorce & Family Law Group, LLC. She is admitted to the New Jersey Bar and the Ne...
Laura Ruvolo Lipp has been certified by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a Matrimonial Law Attorney. She was admitted to the New Jersey Bar and U.S.
Sharon T. Diamant was a prosecutor in Montgomery County for 10 years before going into private practice.
Robert Boedeker received his license in 2011 and has been practicing family law since then, including 8 years as the supervising attorney of the famil...
Attorney Heather Williams Forshey has operated Raleigh Divorce Law Firm since May 2010. She has a B.A. in Psychology from Elon University and received...
Rachel E. Partyka is a Partner at Weinberger Divorce & Family Law Group, LLC., who received her Juris Doctorate from Rutgers School of Law, Camden.
Maggie Mercurio Nestheide is a lawyer practicing domestic relations, juvenile law, family law and 12 other areas of law. Maggie received a degree from...
What is Paternity?
Paternity is the branch of law that governs the rights, obligations, and disputes that arise within its subject matter. In the United States, paternity sits at the intersection of statutes enacted by Congress, the regulations issued by federal agencies, the laws passed by all fifty state legislatures, and the body of judge-made decisions known as the common law. Because every state writes its own version of the rules, the way paternity works in one jurisdiction can look noticeably different from how it works in another, and that is one of the main reasons attorneys in this area focus their practice geographically — to stay fluent in the local statutes, court rules, and judicial preferences that shape outcomes.
At a practical level, Paternity attorneys spend their time on three categories of work. The first is advice and prevention: counselling clients on how to structure transactions, draft documents, and conduct business so that legal risk is minimised before a dispute ever begins. The second is transactional execution: producing the contracts, filings, notices, and registrations that the law actually requires to make a decision legally binding. The third is contested representation: defending or pursuing a client's interests when a dispute escalates to negotiation, regulatory enforcement, arbitration, or litigation in court.
The clients who hire Paternity lawyers range from individuals navigating a single life event to multinational corporations with complex regulatory exposure. What unifies them is the need for an experienced lawyer who knows the relevant code sections, has appeared in the relevant courts, and can translate the strategic options into language a client can act on. AttorneyQnA currently lists 6,790 verified paternity attorneys across the United States, each with a public profile showing their bar admissions, years in practice, and the kinds of matters they have handled — with the deepest concentration of practitioners in Florida.
When do you need a Paternity attorney?
Most people contact a paternity lawyer for one of two reasons: something is about to happen that they want done correctly the first time, or something has gone wrong and they need it fixed before it gets worse. The earlier you involve counsel, the more options you usually have, and the lower the cost of getting to a resolution tends to be. The scenarios below are the ones we see most often on AttorneyQnA from prospective clients searching for paternity representation.
Once your signature is on a contract, settlement, lease, or release, your bargaining leverage drops sharply. A short pre-signature review by a paternity lawyer is the cheapest insurance you can buy.
Cease-and-desist letters, regulatory notices, and demand letters all start clocks. Missing the response window can convert a manageable problem into a default judgment or formal enforcement action.
Statutes of limitations, filing windows, and appeal periods are jurisdictional — courts cannot extend them as a favour. If you can identify a date that matters, you need a lawyer before that date arrives.
The moment opposing counsel appears, the conversation moves out of normal English and into procedural language. Continuing unrepresented usually means losing ground you cannot recover later.
Forming an entity, choosing a venue, structuring a deal, or selecting a remedy each has long-term consequences. A consultation at the planning stage is far cheaper than redoing it after the fact.
Multi-state matters bring conflict-of-laws questions that change which statutes apply and which court has authority. An attorney licensed in the right jurisdiction is not optional.
If any of the situations above describes where you are right now, the next step is a focused consultation. Use the Ask a Lawyer tool for short written questions, or browse the 6,790 paternity attorneys listed above to book a paid consultation directly.
How to choose a Paternity attorney
The single biggest factor in choosing a paternity lawyer is fit with your specific matter. A lawyer with twenty years of paternity experience but no exposure to your particular sub-issue can easily be a worse choice than a five-year associate who has handled the same problem repeatedly. We recommend running every prospective lawyer through the same five-step checklist before signing an engagement letter.
- Bar admission in the correct jurisdiction. Confirm the lawyer is admitted in the state — and where relevant, the federal district — where your matter sits. The lawyer's profile on AttorneyQnA shows every bar admission on file, and the underlying state bar's "lawyer lookup" tool will confirm active standing in under a minute.
- Direct experience with your fact pattern. Ask plainly: "How many matters like mine have you handled in the last three years, and how did they resolve?" An honest answer reveals more than years-in-practice alone.
- A written fee agreement. Whether hourly, flat fee, contingent, or hybrid, the engagement letter should specify what is included, what triggers additional charges, and how disputes are handled. Avoid lawyers who resist writing the terms down.
- Communication cadence. Decide upfront how often you expect updates, who your day-to-day contact will be, and what response time is reasonable. The number-one complaint filed with state bar grievance committees is not malpractice — it is non-communication.
- Conflict check + reputation pulse. Make sure the lawyer has run a formal conflict check, then spend ten minutes reading independent reviews and any public disciplinary history. The state bar's website is authoritative for the second; the lawyer's AttorneyQnA profile collects the first.
Once you have a shortlist, schedule consultations with two or three. Lawyers vary widely in temperament, and the right strategic match for your case is sometimes the second or third lawyer you meet — not the first.
How much does a Paternity lawyer cost?
Legal fees in the United States are not regulated by a uniform schedule, so what you pay a paternity lawyer depends on the billing model the lawyer offers, the complexity of your matter, and the local market. There are four billing structures used in this practice area; most engagements use one, but hybrid arrangements are increasingly common.
1. Hourly billing
The default model for most non-contingent matters. Rates for paternity attorneys in the U.S. typically range from $150–$250/hour in smaller markets to $400–$700/hour in major metropolitan areas, with senior partners at large firms commanding $900/hour and above. Hourly billing is fairest when the scope of work is genuinely unpredictable, but it creates an incentive structure that the client has to monitor.
2. Flat fee
Increasingly used for well-defined transactions — incorporations, will drafting, single-issue filings, uncontested matters. A flat fee tells you exactly what the deliverable will cost, and the lawyer absorbs the risk of unexpected complexity. Ask whether the flat fee includes filing fees, third-party costs, and any post-filing follow-up.
3. Contingency
Where it is permitted by the rules of professional conduct — most often in plaintiff-side paternity work involving monetary recovery — the lawyer is paid a percentage of the proceeds, typically 33% before suit is filed and 40% after. The client pays nothing if there is no recovery. Contingency fees align the lawyer's economics with yours, but the percentage compounds across time, so very strong cases sometimes do better on hourly billing.
4. Retainer / subscription
A monthly fee that buys a defined block of access or hours. This is common for businesses with ongoing paternity needs — contract review, employee questions, regulatory check-ins. A subscription smooths out spending and gives the lawyer a reason to know your operation in depth.
Whichever model you choose, ask for an itemised written estimate before the engagement begins, and ask explicitly what is not covered. Surprise expenses are the most common source of attorney-client friction.
Frequently asked questions about paternity
How quickly can a paternity lawyer review my matter?
Most lawyers can schedule an initial consultation within 1–3 business days. Urgent matters — pending deadlines, time-sensitive notices, court-ordered hearings — should be flagged in your first message; many lawyers reserve emergency consultation slots for that reason. If you need a written answer faster, the Ask a Lawyer tool typically returns answers in under 24 hours.
Do I need a paternity lawyer in my exact city, or anywhere in my state?
Bar admission is the controlling rule: any attorney licensed in your state can represent you in that state's courts and agencies, regardless of which city they're based in. Practical proximity still matters for in-person meetings, local court familiarity, and access to the local bench and bar. For state-level filings and remote-friendly matters, an attorney elsewhere in the same state often works fine.
Will an initial consultation cost me anything?
Many paternity attorneys offer a free 15- to 30-minute initial consultation; others charge a flat consultation fee that may be credited against the engagement if you hire them. The lawyer's profile lists the consultation policy. Free does not always mean better — a fee-based consultation is sometimes the sign of a lawyer who treats their time, and yours, seriously.
What documents should I bring to the first meeting?
Bring every contract, notice, letter, filing, or written communication connected to the matter; a written timeline of events with dates; the names and contact details of every other party involved; and any deadlines or hearing dates you are already aware of. Even an incomplete file is more useful than a verbal summary alone.
Can I change lawyers if I am not happy with mine?
Yes. Clients can discharge their lawyer at any time, for any reason, by written notice. Your case file belongs to you and must be transferred to your new counsel. Any unpaid fees through the date of discharge remain owed; any unearned advance must be refunded. If you are mid-litigation, the court typically must approve the substitution, but approval is routine.
How long does a typical paternity matter take?
It depends almost entirely on whether the matter is transactional or contested. A transactional matter — a contract, a filing, a single-step transaction — can resolve in days to weeks. A contested matter — anything involving disputed facts, court intervention, or regulatory action — typically takes months at minimum, and complex cases can run multiple years. Your lawyer should give you a realistic outside estimate at intake.
Are paternity lawyer fees tax-deductible?
It depends on the nature of the matter and current tax law. Fees connected to producing or collecting taxable income, managing investment property, or operating a business are often deductible; fees for personal matters generally are not. Because rules change, confirm deductibility with a tax professional for the year in which the fees are paid.
What is the difference between paternity and the related practice areas?
Paternity overlaps with several adjacent areas — see the related-practice-area grid below for direct links. Choosing the right lawyer often means picking the one whose primary focus matches the heart of your problem, even if multiple labels could technically apply. When you are unsure, list your situation in your own words to two lawyers from neighbouring areas and ask which one of them is the better fit; honest lawyers will tell you.
Find paternity attorneys by state
Each state link below opens the paternity roster for that jurisdiction, with the local statute of limitations, court-system overview, and verified attorneys.
Paternity Law Firms
Main Law Firm
Winter Park
Walton Law Firm
San Marcos
Bruner Law Firm
Fort Walton Beach
J&Y Law Firm
Los Angeles
West Law Firm
Charleston
John T. Floyd Law Firm
Houston
Paternity by State
All states →Find paternity attorneys in every US state. Each state link opens a hub with verified attorneys, the state filing deadline, and a free attorney match.