This happens often.   It is time consuming and can be expensive to get divorced.  Married people go their separate ways without getting divorced and issues arise if a married woman has a baby with someone who is not her spouse.  If a married woman in Michigan has a baby, her spouse will be listed on the birth certificate,  Even if the woman has not seen her spouse  in years.  Even if the spouse calls the hospital and insists it's not his child.  Even if the biological father is willing to take responsibility for the child.  

So what do we do?  In order to remove the spouse from the birth certificate, a court must enter an order revoking spouse's paternity.  An order can be obtained in a few different ways.  It is critical  that mom, spouse, and bio dad  not wait to revoke paternity.  There are statutory time limits to revoke paternity,  which means that if a parent does not act within the allowed time frame, they cannot revoke paternity.  Once paternity is revoked, a new parent may be named as legal parent of the child, Again, there are different options to establish parentage.  Once there is an order revoking paternity, and a new legal parent, then mom can request that her spouse be removed from the birth certificate and the new parent added to the birth certificate.  

Do you have questions about this issue?  If so, click here.