South Carolina Paternity Laws: Establishing, Custody, and Support

Under South Carolina paternity laws, a child born to married parents is automatically presumed to be the husband’s, while a child born to unmarried parents has no legal father until paternity is established. Until that step happens, custody belongs solely to the mother, the biological father has no right to seek custody or visitation, and he owes no child support. Establishing paternity is what unlocks those rights and obligations, along with the child’s access to inheritance, Social Security survivor benefits, and military healthcare.

Married Parents vs. Unmarried Parents

When a child is born during a marriage, the husband is presumed to be the legal father. That presumption holds unless a court rules otherwise, and any action that could make a child illegitimate has to include both the presumed father and the alleged biological father as parties.¹

For unmarried parents, there is no presumption at all. The mother has sole custody unless she has given up her parental rights.¹ The biological father has no legal standing to ask a court for custody or visitation, and no duty to pay support. The rule cuts both ways: a mother cannot collect support from a man who has no legal relationship to the child, and that man cannot participate in decisions about the child’s upbringing.

Three Ways to Establish Paternity

South Carolina recognizes three routes: a voluntary acknowledgment signed by both parents, genetic testing, or a court order. Which one fits depends on whether the parents agree about who the father is.

Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity

The simplest route is a Verified Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity. Both parents sign, usually at the hospital shortly after birth, though it can also be completed later through the South Carolina Department of Public Health. Both parents must show valid identification, and the form must be signed, notarized, and witnessed.² The acknowledgment cannot be used if the mother was married at any point during the pregnancy or at the birth, or if another man is already listed as the father on the birth record.

Once signed, the acknowledgment has the same force as a court order. Either parent can rescind it within 60 days. After that window closes, the only way to challenge it is by proving fraud, duress, or a material mistake of fact, and the challenger carries the burden of proof.³ Child support keeps running while a challenge is pending unless a judge finds good cause to pause it.

Genetic Testing

When someone disputes who the father is, the court can order genetic testing. A judge can order it on the court’s own motion or at the request of either parent, the child’s representative, or the Department of Social Services.⁴ Testing is usually a cheek swab from the child, the mother, and the alleged father. The party requesting the test typically pays upfront, though the court can reassign that cost later. Legal-grade paternity tests generally run between $200 and $800.

Results at 95 percent probability or higher create a rebuttable presumption that the man is the father. He can still try to overcome that presumption, but the burden shifts to him.⁵ If the test excludes him, he owes nothing and gains nothing.

Refusing a court-ordered test carries real consequences. The court can hold the refusing party in contempt, and the refusal itself is admissible as evidence against that party’s credibility.⁵

Paternity Lawsuit and Court Order

When the parents cannot agree, a paternity action in Family Court is the path. The suit can be filed by the mother, the alleged father, the child through a representative, anyone who has care of the child, or the Department of Social Services when public assistance is involved.⁶ The judge can order genetic testing if paternity is contested.

If the alleged father does not respond, the court can enter a default judgment declaring him the legal father. Settlements are also possible. If the parties reach a written agreement, back it with financial disclosures and sworn statements, and the court finds it fair, the agreement can be approved without a hearing and becomes a binding order.⁷

No Statute of Limitations

South Carolina puts no deadline on paternity actions. The South Carolina Supreme Court has ruled that a case can be brought at any point, even after the child is an adult. That matters for fathers who learn about a child years later and for adult children who want a legal relationship with a biological parent. It also means a mother or the state can pursue support from an alleged father no matter how much time has passed since the birth.

Custody and Visitation After Paternity Is Established

Once paternity is established, the father can petition the court for custody or visitation.¹ He does not automatically get either. He now has standing to ask, and the court decides based on the child’s best interests. The statute lists a detailed set of factors judges must weigh, including the child’s age and adjustment, each parent’s ability to meet the child’s needs, the existing relationships in the child’s life, whether each parent supports the child’s bond with the other, any history of domestic violence or substance abuse, and the stability of the proposed living arrangements.⁸

Legal custody covers decision-making authority over schooling, healthcare, and religion, and it can be sole or shared. Physical custody, which sets where the child lives, may follow the same split or a different one. Visitation schedules commonly include alternating weekends, shared holidays, and extended summer time. If a parent poses a safety risk, the court can require supervised visitation. Interfering with court-ordered visitation can be treated as contempt of court.

Child Support After Paternity Is Established

Once paternity is legal, the father becomes financially responsible for the child. South Carolina uses an income shares model, so both parents’ incomes feed into the calculation. The guidelines take in the number of children, healthcare costs, childcare expenses, and each parent’s share of overnight parenting time. The result is a rebuttable presumption of the correct figure. A judge can deviate, but must explain in writing why the guidelines would be unjust in the case at hand and state what the guidelines amount would have been.⁹

Both parents provide financial disclosures. If a parent is unemployed or working below capacity without good reason, the court can impute income based on past earnings, education, and work history. Orders typically include health insurance provisions, and the noncustodial parent may be required to carry coverage for the child or contribute to healthcare costs. Support orders are not permanent. Either parent can seek modification when there has been a substantial change in circumstances, such as a significant income shift, job loss, or a change in the parenting schedule.⁹

What Establishing Paternity Means for the Child

The rights the child gains often matter more than parents realize until something goes wrong.

For inheritance, a child born outside of marriage can only inherit from the father under South Carolina’s intestate succession law if paternity was established during the father’s lifetime, or within eight months after his death, or within six months after a personal representative is appointed for the estate, whichever is later. Even then, if paternity is established after death, the father’s relatives can only inherit from or through the child if the father openly treated the child as his own and did not refuse to support the child.¹⁰ Without established paternity, the child has no claim to the father’s estate.

Social Security survivor and disability benefits follow the same logic. A child can qualify on a father’s earnings record if the father acknowledged the child in writing during his lifetime, a court decreed him the father, or a court ordered him to pay support. If the father has died, that acknowledgment, decree, or order must have existed before his death.¹¹ Waiting until after a father’s death makes the process significantly harder and may require proving the father was living with or contributing to the child’s support when he died.

For military families, a child of an unmarried male service member cannot enroll in DEERS, the system that provides access to TRICARE, without proof of paternity. The Department of Defense requires either a court order or a state voluntary acknowledgment of paternity, along with the child’s birth certificate and Social Security card. All documents must be originals or certified copies.¹²

Adding the Father to the Birth Certificate

After paternity is established, the father’s name can be added to the child’s birth certificate. The process depends on how paternity was determined.

If both parents signed a voluntary acknowledgment, the Department of Public Health prepares a new birth certificate that includes the father’s name and the child’s agreed-upon surname. Both signatures must have been notarized. The amendment fee is $15, plus $3 for each certified copy of the new certificate. An online option through a notary service adds a $45 service fee.²

If paternity came from a court order, the clerk of court sends a report to the state registrar with the information needed to prepare the amended certificate. If the order did not specify a surname, the name stays as it was on the original.¹³

The voluntary acknowledgment route is closed when the mother was married during the pregnancy or at the birth, or when another man is already listed as the father. In those situations, changing the record requires a court-ordered paternity determination.¹⁴

Undoing a Paternity Finding

The path to reverse a paternity finding depends on how it was made. For a voluntary acknowledgment, the 60-day rescission window is straightforward. After that, the challenger must prove fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact in court.³

For a court-ordered paternity finding, the process is harder. South Carolina courts have used Rule 60(b)(5) of the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure, which allows relief from a judgment when it is no longer equitable to enforce it. A man trying to overturn a paternity judgment typically needs DNA evidence excluding him as the biological father, but the court does not stop there. Judges weigh the financial impact on the father, how long the paternity order has been in effect, the nature of the relationship between the man and the child, whether the mother withheld information about other potential fathers, and, above all, the best interest of the child. A man who has acted as a child’s father for years may find the court declines to remove him from that role even when DNA says he is not the biological parent.

If paternity is successfully disestablished, the father’s name can be removed from the birth certificate through a court-ordered amendment. Child support that accrued before the disestablishment order may still be enforceable until a judge formally terminates it.

1
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 63-17-20 – Jurisdiction
2
South Carolina Department of Public Health. Adding Father to Birth Certificate
3
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 63-17-50 – Verified Voluntary Acknowledgments
4
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 63-17-30 – Genetic Tests; Costs
5
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 63-17-60 – Admissibility of Evidence
6
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 63-17-10 – Purpose; Definitions
7
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 63 Chapter 17 – Section 63-17-40 – Settlement and Voluntary Agreements
8
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 63-15-240 – Contents of Order for Custody Affecting Rights and Responsibilities of Parents; Best Interests of the Child
9
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 63-17-470 – Proceedings and Awards
10
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 62-2-109 – Meaning of Child and Related Terms
11
Social Security Administration. Code of Federal Regulations 404.355 – Who Is the Insured’s Natural Child?
12
TRICARE. Required Documents
13
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 44 Chapter 63 – Section 44-63-163 – Birth Certificate to Be Prepared After Father Is Determined in Paternity Proceeding
14
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 44 Chapter 63 – Section 44-63-165 – Birth Certificate of Illegitimate Child to Be Prepared When Father Acknowledges Paternity