Paternity Agreement

ALABAMA ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF PATERNITY PREPARATION PACKET

Do not sign or file this packet as an acknowledgment. Alabama law gives legal effect to the prescribed acknowledgment only when the statutory requirements are met and the record is filed with the Alabama Office of Vital Statistics.

Do not combine parentage with private parenting terms. A valid filed acknowledgment has statutory effect, but this worksheet does not establish a custody schedule, visitation, a support amount, or contract remedies.

1. Eligibility and Existing-Parentage Screen

Under Ala. Code § 26-17-301, the mother and a man claiming to be the child's genetic father may sign an acknowledgment with the intent to establish his paternity. Section 26-17-302 requires the official record to state that the child has no presumed father or that the acknowledging man is the presumed father, and that the child has no other acknowledged or adjudicated father.

The Alabama Department of Public Health states that its administrative acknowledgment route for adding a father to the birth certificate is processed through a county Department of Human Resources office or the Center for Health Statistics when the mother was not married from conception through birth. If marriage, a presumed father, or an existing father on the record is involved, obtain case-specific instructions before signing. Section 26-17-315(d) generally prevents Vital Statistics from creating a new birth certificate from a later affidavit when a father is already listed unless a court has determined paternity or an adoption follows.

Selected route:

☐ Prescribed Acknowledgment of Paternity through hospital, county DHR, or Vital Statistics

☐ Circuit Court, Juvenile Division, parentage proceeding

☐ DHR child-support paternity-establishment process

☐ Another route confirmed by Alabama counsel: [________________________________]

2. Parent and Child Information Worksheet

Section 26-17-312 requires the prescribed affidavit to include each parent's Social Security number and current address. Transfer Social Security numbers and other protected identifiers directly to the official form; do not retain them in this worksheet when unnecessary or unsafe.

3. Obtain the Prescribed Form and Required Notice

The Alabama Department of Human Resources prescribes the acknowledgment form. It may be available through the birth hospital, a county DHR office, or the Alabama Center for Health Statistics. Do not substitute a private affidavit or an internet form.

Before signing, § 26-17-304 requires the mother and putative father to receive both written notice and oral notice, which may be delivered using audio or video equipment, concerning:

• alternatives to signing;
• legal consequences of signing;
• the responsibilities arising from signing; and
• any rights afforded because a parent is a minor.

4. Voluntariness and Genetic-Testing Decision

The official acknowledgment must state whether genetic testing has occurred and, if so, that the acknowledging man's paternity claim is consistent with the results. It must also state that the signers understand the acknowledgment will be a legal finding of paternity and may be challenged only as Alabama law permits.

Before signing, each proposed signer should confirm:

☐ I read and understand the complete current form, notices, alternatives, consequences, rights, and responsibilities.

☐ I understand that signing is voluntary and that a DHR or court process is available when paternity is disputed.

☐ I understand that the filed acknowledgment will confer the rights and duties of a parent on the acknowledged father.

☐ I understand that the acknowledgment is a sufficient basis for child support and pregnancy and confinement expenses.

☐ I am signing without fraud, duress, force, threat, coercion, or material mistake.

☐ I am certain the parentage facts and the selected route are correct.

Testing status: ☐ Completed and consistent with paternity claim ☐ Not performed ☐ Requested — do not sign yet

Laboratory, report date, and result: [________________________________]

Do not use a private testing waiver or require a percentage threshold not found in the acknowledgment statutes.

5. Execute and Notarize the Official Acknowledgment

Under § 26-17-302, the acknowledgment must be signed and notarized under penalty of perjury by the mother and the man seeking to establish paternity. A presumed father who signs an acknowledgment must also have it notarized.

☐ The child has no other acknowledged or adjudicated father.

☐ The presumed-father statement on the official form is accurate.

☐ The genetic-testing statement is accurate.

☐ Mother signed before the notary as the form directs.

☐ Proposed father signed before the notary as the form directs.

☐ The notary completed every required certificate, seal, and date.

Do not use this packet's signature page, counterparts, or unsupported electronic signatures as a substitute for the prescribed notarized record.

6. File With the Alabama Office of Vital Statistics

Under §§ 26-17-302 and 26-17-304, the acknowledgment must be filed with the Alabama Office of Vital Statistics and takes effect only when both the mother and putative father have signed and the document has been filed. Section 26-17-306 prohibits a fee for filing the acknowledgment.

If the affidavit is completed in the hospital, § 26-17-315 requires the hospital to send it to Vital Statistics within five days after birth. That is a hospital submission duty, not a generic five-day deadline imposed on parents completing an acknowledgment later.

The Alabama Public Health form list includes form HS-21, Request for Certified Copy of Acknowledgment of Paternity, rev. 10/2024. The current form states a $15 record-search fee that includes one certified copy or a Certificate of Failure to Find. That copy fee is separate from the statute's prohibition on charging to file the acknowledgment.

7. Birth Certificate and Separate Parenting Orders

Section 26-17-315(c) provides that an affidavit completed in accordance with the hospital-program section must be accepted for listing the father on the birth certificate. For a later request to add a father, ADPH uses form HS-75, Application to Add Father to Child's Alabama Birth Certificate, rev. 10/2024. The current form warns that additional documents or a court action may be required and lists a $25 fee to prepare the new birth certificate, including one certified copy.

Under § 26-17-305, a valid filed acknowledgment is a legal finding of paternity, confers the rights and duties of a parent, and supplies a sufficient basis to establish support and pregnancy and confinement expenses. Section 26-17-310 bars a court or agency from ratifying an unchallenged filed acknowledgment.

The acknowledgment does not itself provide a detailed custody or visitation schedule or calculate a support amount. Use the appropriate court or DHR process for those issues.

Do not attach private default clauses, cure periods, indemnity, damages caps, force majeure, arbitration, jury waivers, automatic custody changes, or support terms to the acknowledgment as though they were part of the statutory record or a court order.

8. Judicial Rescission Before the Cutoff

Section 26-17-307 permits a signatory to rescind an acknowledgment only in a judicial proceeding commenced before the earlier of:

• sixty days after the acknowledgment's effective date; or
• the date of the first hearing in a proceeding to which the signatory is a party before a court to adjudicate an issue relating to the child, including support.

Do not use a private cancellation letter or assume an administrative rescission form will satisfy Alabama law. Obtain immediate Alabama counsel and court instructions.

9. Challenge After the Rescission Period

After the rescission period, § 26-17-308 permits a signatory to challenge the acknowledgment only:

• on the basis of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact; or
• in the same manner provided by § 26-17A-1, Alabama's scientific-evidence reopening provision.

The challenger bears the burden of proof. Section 26-17-309 requires every signatory to be made a party, treats the matter like an Article 6 parentage proceeding, and generally prevents suspension of child support or other legal responsibilities while the case is pending unless good cause is shown. The court must direct an appropriate birth-record amendment at the end of the case.

Section 26-17A-1 contains specialized requirements and excludes an adopted child from its reopening route. This packet is not a rescission petition, challenge pleading, or scientific-evidence petition. Obtain immediate legal review.

10. Preparation Acknowledgment

The signatures below confirm only that the participants reviewed this preparation packet. They do not acknowledge, establish, rescind, or challenge paternity and do not create custody, visitation, or support orders.

Sources and References

• Ala. Code §§ 26-17-301 to 26-17-315 — Acknowledgment of Paternity
• Ala. Code § 26-17A-1 — Reopening of Paternity Case
• Alabama Department of Public Health — Birth Certificate Corrections/Changes
• ADPH form HS-75 — Application to Add Father to Child's Alabama Birth Certificate, rev. 10/2024
• ADPH form HS-21 — Request for Certified Copy of Acknowledgment of Paternity, rev. 10/2024