LibGuides: Ohio Child Custody, Support and Visitation Law: Parentage

Introduction

There are three ways to establish paternity of your child, if you are not married to the mother:

Acknowledgment of Paternity Affidavit: By signing this affidavit, both parents agree that a man is the biological father of a child and choose to make him the legal father of the child. The affidavit is then mailed to the Central Paternity Registry.
Administrative Order of Paternity: For unmarried parents that have not established paternity through another method and wish to get genetic testing, the Child Support Enforcement Agency can conduct the testing and issue an order of paternity if the man is indeed the biological father of the child. If the mother lives in Ohio, please contact the Child Support Enforcement Agency (CSEA) in the mother's county of residence. If the mother lives outside of Ohio, you may contact the CSEA in the father's county of residence.
Court Order of Paternity: Paternity may be established through Juvenile Court and sometimes through Domestic Relations Court (as part of a divorce.)

Determining Legal Parentage: Between Family Law and Contract Law by Yehezkel Margalit
Call Number: KF 700 .M368
Publication Date: 2019

Domestic Relations and Juvenile Standardized Forms: Parentage, Custody and Parenting Time
This website provides a list with links of official forms from the Ohio Supreme Court that are needed for filing for parentage and custody or parenting time.

Below are two extra forms that you need to submit if filing a complaint for custody in Franklin County.

Certificate
Official form from the Franklin County Juvenile Clerk's office. Also called Required Notice of Previously Filed Case.

Confidential Disclosure of Personal Identifiers
Official form from the Franklin County Juvenile Clerk's office.

Oh. Rev. Code Sec. 2151.23(B)(2)
Except as provided in divisions (G) and (I) of section 2301.03 of the Revised Code, which refers to Richland and Summit counties, the juvenile court has original jurisdiction to determine the parentage of any child alleged to have been born out of wedlock pursuant to sections 3111.01 to 3111.18 of the Revised Code.
Oh. Rev. Code Sec. 3111.01
Parent and child relationship defined.
Oh. Rev. Code Sec. 3107.062
The department of job and family services shall establish a putative father registry. A putative father may register at any time. For the purpose of preserving the requirement of his consent to an adoption, a putative father shall register before or not later than fifteen days after the birth of the child.
Oh. Rev. Code Sec. 3107.063
An attorney arranging a minor's adoption, a mother, a public children services agency, a private noncustodial agency, or a private child placing agency may request at any time that the department of job and family services search the putative father registry to determine whether a man is registered as the minor's putative father.

Expanding State Parent Registry Laws
Jeffrey A. Parness, 101 Nebraska Law Review, 684 (2023)