Experts and fathers tell Georgia House panel legitimation process is costly, confusing

At a House study committee on the affordability and accessibility of Georgia’s legitimation process, family-law attorneys, Department of Human Services representatives and fathers told legislators the state’s rules for making an unmarried father the child’s legal parent are costly, inconsistent and often produce unintended consequences.

The committee heard that Georgia remains an outlier among U.S. states because it requires a separate ‘‘legitimation’’ process in addition to paternity establishment, a difference witnesses said drives expense and delay for fathers seeking parenting time and legal status.

‘‘Legitimation in Georgia is entirely too difficult, too complicated, too cumbersome for Georgians,’’ said Katie Harnell, a family law practitioner with about 20 years’ experience. Harnell walked the committee through how paternity and legitimation are treated as distinct legal tracks under current Georgia law and warned against simple, biologically‑based fixes that could produce other harms.

Regina Quick, general counsel and deputy commissioner at the Georgia Department of Human Services, said the separation of paternity and legitimation causes practical problems for the department’s child support work. ‘‘When that biological father who is about to be ordered…