Challenging Paternity in Colorado
How Paternity Gets Challenged in Colorado
You can challenge a legal finding of paternity in Colorado, but how you do it depends on how paternity was established in the first place. A signed acknowledgment can be rescinded within 60 days without a court fight. After that window closes, a challenge requires proof of fraud, duress, or mistake of material fact.[1] If paternity rests on the marital presumption instead, contesting it means filing a specific court action within a set time limit.
The outcome affects far more than a name on a birth certificate. A legal finding of paternity determines who owes child support, who has parenting time, and who has a say in major decisions about the child’s life. Colorado courts treat these challenges seriously, and the deadlines are unforgiving.
Knowing which pathway applies to your case, and how much time you have left to use it, shapes every decision from here.
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How You Challenge Paternity Depends on How It Was Established
Colorado recognizes three ways to legally establish paternity, and the process for challenging it depends on which one applies to your case. Whether paternity was established through the marital presumption, a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Parentage, or a court order, each follows different legal rules, deadlines, and evidentiary requirements.
- Marital presumption: applies when the mother is married to the man at the child’s birth, or when the marriage ended within 300 days before the birth.
- Voluntary Acknowledgment of Parentage: both parents sign a form filed with the state registrar, and it carries the same legal weight as a court judgment once it takes effect.
- Court-ordered determination: a judge establishes paternity after a contested proceeding, typically supported by genetic testing.
Each pathway carries its own rules for challenging it. Using the wrong process, or missing the deadline attached to the right one, can cost you the ability to challenge paternity at all.
Rescinding a Voluntary Acknowledgment Within 60 Days
If you signed a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Parentage, you have a narrow window to walk it back without going to court. Either parent may rescind the acknowledgment within 60 days of signing it, or before any related administrative or court proceeding begins, whichever comes first.[1]
Rescission during this window does not require proof of fraud or a specific legal reason. You simply need to act before the deadline passes. Missing it shifts your case into a much harder legal standard.
Challenging an Acknowledgment After the 60-Day Window
Once the 60-day period expires, a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Parentage becomes very difficult to undo. Colorado law allows a challenge only on the basis of fraud, duress, or mistake of material fact, and the person challenging it carries the burden of proof.[1]
Discovering later that genetic testing excludes you as the biological father does not automatically qualify as a mistake of material fact. Courts examine what you knew, and reasonably should have known, at the time you signed.
Your child support obligation continues during the challenge unless the court finds good cause to suspend it.
What People Get Wrong About the 60-Day Window: Finding out later that a DNA test excludes you as the biological father does not reopen a missed 60-day deadline. The rescission window is about timing, not accuracy. Once it closes, disappointing test results by themselves rarely meet the fraud, duress, or mistake of material fact standard.
Rebutting the Marital Presumption of Paternity
When a child is born during a marriage, or within 300 days after one ends, Colorado presumes the husband is the legal father. Rebutting that presumption requires filing a specific court action to declare the nonexistence of the parent-child relationship, not simply raising doubt during a support hearing.
That action must be filed within a reasonable time after you learn the relevant facts, and never later than five years after the child’s birth.[2] Once filed, the presumption can only be overcome by clear and convincing evidence, a higher bar than most civil disputes.[1]
The Role of Genetic Testing in a Paternity Challenge
Genetic testing carries significant weight in a Colorado paternity challenge, but it does not automatically resolve the case. Courts order testing under a defined statutory process, and results must show whether an alleged father is excluded as the biological parent.[4]
A test administered outside that process, including an informal at-home kit, typically will not carry the same weight in court. If you are relying on genetic testing to challenge paternity, the testing needs to follow the statutory chain of custody from the start.
Setting Aside a Paternity Order Based on Genetic Test Results
If a court has already entered an order determining parentage, and genetic testing later excludes you as the biological father, you may be able to have that order modified or set aside. The motion must show the exclusion and convince the court that setting the order aside is just and proper and in the child’s best interests.[3]
This motion must be filed within two years of the date the order was entered. Colorado law also blocks this remedy in specific circumstances, including when the person named as father acknowledged paternity while already knowing he was not the biological parent, when the child was later adopted, or when the child was conceived through assisted reproduction.[3]
If you are considering a paternity challenge in Colorado, timing matters more than almost anything else in family law. Talk to a family law attorney before a deadline passes, not after. Once a rescission window or filing deadline closes, options that were available to you can disappear for good.
What Happens to Child Support and Parenting Time During a Challenge
Filing a paternity challenge does not pause your existing legal obligations. Child support, and any parenting time already ordered, generally continue while the case is pending, unless the court specifically finds good cause to change that.
Walking away from support payments during a challenge can create arrears you will owe even if you ultimately prevail. The court also requires that every man presumed or alleged to be the child’s father be joined as a party,[5] and leaving someone out can delay your case by months.
How Johnson Law Group Can Help
A paternity challenge is not a single form or a single hearing. It is a sequence of deadlines, evidentiary standards, and procedural requirements that shift depending on how paternity was established in the first place. Colorado paternity law determines which pathway applies to your situation, and our family law attorneys help you confirm that quickly and build the record the court will require.
We built our Advanced Client Portal to keep you in the loop at every stage, from the moment genetic testing is ordered to the day the court rules. Acting as your North Star through a case like this means giving you a clear, honest read on your options and the deadlines attached to each one, not vague reassurance.
Serving families across the Front Range and beyond, we bring big-firm experience in complex parentage matters to a boutique setting built around direct access to your attorney.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to challenge paternity in Colorado?
It depends on how paternity was established. A Voluntary Acknowledgment of Parentage can be rescinded within 60 days with no explanation required. After that, you need fraud, duress, or mistake of material fact. If you are rebutting the marital presumption, you generally have up to five years from the child’s birth, and a motion to set aside a court order based on genetic testing must be filed within two years of that order.
Can I challenge paternity just because a DNA test shows I am not the biological father?
Not automatically. Genetic test results are powerful evidence, but the applicable legal standard depends on which pathway established paternity in your case and how much time has passed. A court must also find that setting the finding aside is just and proper and in the child’s best interests.
Does my child support obligation stop while I challenge paternity?
No. Your child support obligation and any existing parenting time order generally continue during the challenge, unless the court finds good cause to change that. Plan your finances accordingly while the case is pending.
Can the mother challenge an established father's paternity too?
Yes. Colorado law does not limit paternity challenges to the man named as the father. The mother, the state, and other interested parties can also bring or participate in a paternity action under specific circumstances.
What if I missed my deadline to challenge paternity?
Missing a deadline does not always end your options, but it significantly narrows them. Talk with a family law attorney promptly. Some pathways closed to you individually may still be available to other parties, or your case may qualify for a different exception.
Related Issue
Everything above assumes paternity has already been legally established in your case. If it has not, the process works differently. Our guide to establishing paternity in Colorado covers the marital presumption, voluntary acknowledgment, and court-ordered determination for parents who are proving parentage for the first time, not challenging a finding that already exists.
Talk to a Colorado Paternity Attorney Today
You do not have to figure out which deadline applies to your case alone. Johnson Law Group has guided Colorado families through paternity challenges, contested acknowledgments, and parentage disputes for years. Our family law attorneys will walk you through your options in a free consultation and help you understand what evidence your case will need.
Visit one of our offices across the Front Range, or call today to schedule your consultation.
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