Oversight

• The Florida Department of Revenue oversees child support cases in the state. The agency assists parents with paternity cases, new and ongoing child support cases and child support enforcement. Fathers can learn more about their rights through the agency or by consulting a Florida lawyer.
  
  

Relevance of Paternity

• Paternity, also known as legal fatherhood, determines whether a father can obtain a child support order or has an obligation to pay child support to the child's mother. According to the Florida Department of Revenue, the state can establish paternity through a man's marriage to the child's mother, voluntary acknowledgment, administrative order or court proceedings.
  
  

Right to Obtain Child Support

• A legal father who is the child's custodial parent has a right to receive child support from the child's mother. The father can obtain a child support order through an administrative process with the state child support agency or by court proceedings.
  
  

Obligation to Pay Child Support

• A custodial mother can only ask the Florida Department of Revenue or state court for a child support order if the man is the child's legal father.