If there is no formal adoption, then one parent may have sole legal rights to a child, born before the Defense of Marriage Act was struck down. If you have no parental rights, then you are not entitled to visitation or required to pay child support. This is why it is essential to communicate with an LGBT family lawyer if there are children in your marriage, or within your long term relationship.

If you both have legal rights to the child, then the courts will determine custody and support in the same way that they would for heterosexual couples. This means that the best interests of the child are taken into consideration and every effort is made to provide the child with access to both parents. These are often very emotional cases, and you don’t want to face this without an LGBT family attorney to fight for your rights and the well-being of your child.

The most problems occur with child support and custody when the child was born before DOMA was ruled unconstitutional. Back then, only one person within the same-sex family could be the legal parent. If you have no legal rights to the child, then this creates a lot of problems, later. If you are in a long term same-sex relationship or marriage with children, then it is essential to communicate with an LGBT family law attorney to ensure that the child has the very best of both parents.