This toolkit tells you about revoking or undoing your paternity when someone else is the father of your wife’s (or ex-wife’s) child. Use a different toolkit if you are the wife/mother in this situation, or if you are trying to claim paternity of a child whose mother is married. For general information about revoking your paternity, read the Articles. Read the Common Questions if you have a specific question. If you want to ask a judge to revoke your paternity, use the Forms link to prepare your forms. The Checklists below have step-by-step instructions for asking the judge to revoke your paternity. Go to Courts & Agencies for information about the court or agency that will handle your case.
You'll find links to legal aid offices and lawyer referral services under Find A Lawyer. If there is a Self-Help Center in your area you can get more help there. If you need something other than legal help, look in Community Services. If you need a fee waiver, an interpreter, a court to accommodate your disability, or more information about going to court, visit Going to Court.
Common Questions
You may want to ask the judge to revoke your paternity if a child was born or conceived during your marriage, but the child is not your biological child. Under Michigan law, you are automatically the child’s legal father if you were married to the mother when the child was born or conceived. To ask the judge to un-do your status as legal father, you must file a Motion or Complaint to Determine Child Born Out of Wedlock.
If you do not do this, you will remain the child’s legal father. This means you will continue to have all the legal rights of a parent. If you and the child’s mother divorce or get a separate maintenance, you will have the ability to ask the court for custody and parenting time. You will also have the responsibilities of a parent, such as possibly paying child support.
To ask the judge to revoke your paternity of a child born or conceived during your marriage, you must file a Motion or Complaint to Determine Child Born Out of Wedlock. Whether you need a motion or complaint depends on if you have an existing family court case in which you can file your motion. You can use the Do-It-Yourself Revoke Paternity Established by Marriage tool to prepare the forms you need.
If the child is three years old or older, you can file a Motion to Determine Child Born Out of Wedlock in a divorce or separate maintenance case between you and the child’s mother.
If the child is younger than three, you can file a motion in an existing family court case involving child support, parenting time, or custody of the child. For example, you can file a motion in a divorce case between you and your wife. Or you can file a Complaint to Determine Child Born Out of Wedlock to start a new case.