In Texas, whether a man is legally "the father" is often decided by dates on paper before biology enters the picture. Family Code §160.204 lists five separate ways a man becomes a presumed father, and four of the five come down to marriage-and-birth timing. A wedding date. A divorce date. A death certificate date. A child's date of birth. Those numbers, plugged into the statute, decide who the law will call the father before a lab tests a single genetic marker.
This piece walks through each presumption category with real dates and scenarios, and explains why understanding §160.204 matters before you order any DNA test. If you are on the wrong side of the arithmetic in this statute, an at-home paternity test can still tell you what you want to know for yourself, but it will not undo the legal presumption. That takes a separate proceeding under §160.607, and only inside a four-year window that is often already closing.
The five presumption paths sit in §160.204(a)(1) through (a)(5). Four are timing rules. The fifth is a conduct rule. What follows walks each one and shows how the calendar decides the outcome.
§160.204(a)(1): married at the time of birth
The first and simplest rule reads that a man is presumed to be the father of a child if "he is married to the mother of the child and the child is born during the marriage."
Plain English: if the mother is legally married on the day the child is born, her husband is the presumed father. It does not matter when the marriage started. It does not matter whether the husband was present at conception. It does not matter whether either spouse suspects another man is the biological father. The date on the birth certificate and the date on the marriage license are the only two facts the statute needs.
Consider a couple who marry on March 1 and have a child on August 15 of the same year. The child was conceived before the marriage. The husband is still the presumed father under (a)(1), because the child was born during the marriage. The biology is a separate question the law does not ask at this stage.
Now consider a couple who marry on January 1 and have a child on December 15, and the husband was deployed overseas from March through November. He is still the presumed father under (a)(1). The statute does not carve out an exception for physical impossibility of conception. The presumption attaches automatically. Anything that follows is a challenge to the presumption under a different section, and challenges are time-limited.
The takeaway from (a)(1) is that being married on the day of birth is the shortest path to legal fatherhood in Texas. It happens at the courthouse, not at a lab.
§160.204(a)(2): the 300-day rule after termination of marriage
The second rule is the one most people have not heard of and the one that surprises them the most. It reads that a man is presumed to be the father if "he was married to the mother of the child and the child is born before the 300th day after the date the marriage is terminated by death, annulment, declaration of invalidity, or divorce."
Three hundred days is roughly ten months. The number is not random. It is the outside edge of a normal gestation window, and it exists so that children conceived during a marriage but born after the marriage ends still have a presumed father attached to them.
Consider a couple who finalize a divorce on January 15. The former wife gives birth on October 20 of the same year, which is 278 days later. The former husband is the presumed father under (a)(2). It does not matter that they were divorced before the child was born. It does not matter that the mother had already moved in with a new partner. The child was born before the 300th day after the divorce, and the statute treats that as enough.
Consider a widow whose husband dies on February 1. She gives birth on November 10, which is 282 days later. Her late husband is the presumed father under (a)(2). This matters for inheritance, for Social Security survivor benefits, and for the child's legal identity, and it can matter even if the biological father is someone she has been living with for months.
The 300-day rule catches an enormous number of cases where common sense would say the ex-husband or late husband is not the father. Texas law does not ask common sense at this stage. It asks the calendar. If the child arrives on day 299, the presumption attaches. If the child arrives on day 301, it does not.
Termination by annulment or declaration of invalidity works the same way. The clock starts on the date the marriage is legally terminated, whatever the reason.
§160.204(a)(3): attempted marriage that turned out to be invalid
The third rule handles cases where the couple thought they were married but were not. It reads that a man is presumed to be the father if "before the birth of the child, he married the mother of the child in apparent compliance with law, even if the attempted marriage is or could be declared invalid, and the child is born during the invalid marriage or before the 300th day after the date the marriage is terminated by death, annulment, declaration of invalidity, or divorce."
Texas recognizes that not every marriage certificate reflects a legally valid marriage. A bigamous marriage, a marriage where one party was underage without proper consent, a marriage where a prior divorce was not final, all can be declared invalid later. The (a)(3) rule says that if the couple went through the ceremony in apparent compliance with the law and the child is born during that attempted marriage or within 300 days of its termination, the presumption still attaches.
Consider a man who marries a woman on June 1, believing her prior divorce was final. It later turns out her divorce did not become final until June 15. The June 1 marriage is void. She gives birth on March 10 of the following year. Under (a)(3), the man is still the presumed father, because the marriage was in apparent compliance with law at the time and the child was born during the (invalid) marriage.
The point of (a)(3) is that Texas does not want children stranded without a presumed father because of a paperwork problem the parties did not know about. If the ceremony looked like a legal marriage from the outside, the timing rules of (a)(1) and (a)(2) still apply.
§160.204(a)(4): marriage after birth plus voluntary assertion
The fourth rule handles cases where the couple marries after the child is born. It reads that a man is presumed to be the father if "after the birth of the child, he married the mother of the child in apparent compliance with law, whether or not the marriage is or could be declared invalid, and he voluntarily asserted his paternity of the child, and: (A) the assertion is in a record filed with the vital statistics unit; (B) he is voluntarily named as the child's father on the child's birth certificate; or (C) he promised in a record to support the child as his own."
This is the one rule in §160.204 that requires more than timing. It requires an affirmative act by the man after the marriage. Marrying the mother alone is not enough. He must also file a paternity record, sign the birth certificate, or sign a record promising to support the child.
Consider a couple who have a child on May 1 and marry on July 1 of the following year. The mother has been the sole parent on record since birth. If the husband takes no formal action, the (a)(4) presumption does not attach. If, three months after the marriage, he signs an Acknowledgment of Paternity that is filed with the Texas Vital Statistics Unit, the presumption attaches under (a)(4)(A). If instead he agrees in writing to pay support, the presumption attaches under (a)(4)(C).
The (a)(4) path is useful in situations where the couple was not together at the birth but reconciled later. It is also the path where a stepfather-style relationship crosses into a presumed-father relationship. The timing element (marriage after birth) is not enough on its own. The voluntary written assertion is what closes the loop.
§160.204(a)(5): the "held out" presumption
The fifth rule is the only one in §160.204 that does not require a marriage. It reads that a man is presumed to be the father if "during the first two years of the child's life, he continuously resided in the household in which the child resided and he represented to others that the child was his own."
Two years, one household, open representation. Every element matters.
"During the first two years of the child's life" is a hard window. Cohabitation that starts when the child is two and a half does not count for (a)(5), no matter how long it lasts. The clock starts at birth and runs until the child's second birthday.
"Continuously resided in the household in which the child resided" means what it says. A man who lived with the mother and child from birth through the child's second birthday, without a permanent move-out during that window, has met this element. Short trips do not break the residence. A separation of a few months in the middle of the two-year window will usually break it, and Texas courts have looked closely at intent and at where the man kept his belongings.
"Represented to others that the child was his own" is the conduct element. Calling the child "my son" or "my daughter" in front of family, friends, or teachers is enough. Signing a school form as the father is enough. Adding the child to health insurance as a dependent is enough. Doing this privately, only in the household, is generally not enough. The "to others" language is what makes this an openly held-out relationship.
Consider a man who moves in with the mother a week after the child is born, lives there continuously until the child turns three, and introduces the child as his son at family gatherings the entire time. He is a presumed father under (a)(5), even if he never married the mother and even if the biological father is another man. The presumption attaches at the two-year mark, and it carries the same legal weight as the marriage-based presumptions.
Consider a man who moves in when the child is 18 months old and holds himself out openly from that point forward. He has not met (a)(5), because his continuous residence did not begin during the first two years and extend across enough of that window. The statute is unforgiving on this. It is the two-year window or nothing.
How §160.204 interacts with the §160.607 four-year challenge window
The presumption under §160.204 is not permanent, but it is time-protected. Once a presumption attaches, the challenge window is set by Tex. Fam. Code §160.607. The presumed father, the mother, or another individual has until the fourth anniversary of the child's birth to bring a proceeding to adjudicate parentage. After four years, the statute of repose closes the door, subject to two narrow exceptions covered in a separate piece on the §160.607(b) reopening rules.
The practical effect is that §160.204 and §160.607 have to be read together. Section 160.204 tells you whether the presumption attached in the first place. Section 160.607 tells you how long you have to challenge it. A man who becomes a presumed father under (a)(1) on the day the child is born has four years from that day to raise a paternity challenge. A man who becomes a presumed father under (a)(5) at the two-year mark still has until the child's fourth birthday, but only two more years to file, because the clock in §160.607 runs from the birth date, not from the date the presumption attached.
That timing arithmetic is often the deciding factor. A man who first suspects he is not the biological father when the child is three has one year to act. A man who first suspects at four and a half is generally too late, DNA result or not.
Why timing arithmetic often decides paternity before DNA
The pattern in real Texas cases is that the calendar has already spoken by the time anyone thinks to test.
A divorced woman gives birth 260 days after the divorce is final. Her ex-husband is the presumed father under (a)(2), regardless of whether he was in the state during the conception window. If he does not challenge within four years, the presumption becomes permanent.
A couple lives together for the child's first three years without ever marrying. The man openly treats the child as his own throughout. He is a presumed father under (a)(5). If the mother later wants to establish that a different man is the biological father, she is subject to the same four-year §160.607 window measured from the child's birth.
A woman marries a man three months after her child is born, and he signs an Acknowledgment of Paternity that is filed with vital statistics. He is a presumed father under (a)(4)(A). The AOP itself has its own rescission and challenge rules under §§160.307 and 160.308, and those rules are even tighter than §160.607.
In each of these scenarios, DNA testing may confirm or contradict the biological reality, but it does not, on its own, change the legal reality. The presumption stands until a court sets it aside, and the court can only do that if the challenge is filed inside the statutory window.
Where an at-home DNA test fits
Before a court is involved, most people want to know for themselves. That is where an at-home paternity test is useful. It gives the presumed father, the mother, or a possible biological father private information about who the biological parent actually is, so they can decide whether to open a legal proceeding at all.
The USDC home paternity test kit at $79 analyzes up to 28 genetic markers, with 23 autosomal STR markers as the standard panel for paternity work on cheek swab samples, plus up to 5 additional markers available when kinship testing requires more statistical weight. Standard order-to-results turnaround is 7 to 10 business days, or 5 to 7 business days with the expedited add-on available during checkout. Once samples arrive at the lab, processing itself takes 2 to 3 business days.
A home test is not court-admissible in Texas. It has no chain of custody, and a court will not accept it as proof of non-paternity in a parentage proceeding. What it gives you is personal knowledge. If the result confirms the presumed father is the biological father, the timing analysis under §160.204 becomes moot. If the result excludes him, that is when the §160.607 window and a Texas family lawyer become relevant, and the court-ordered legal test under §160.502 is what will generate the admissible evidence.
For court use, a legal paternity test with witnessed collection and full chain of custody documentation from an accredited testing provider is what will be admissible. Ask the family lawyer handling the case which court-approved collection facility they use, or contact the Texas Office of the Attorney General Child Support Division for a list of approved providers in your area.
FAQ
If my ex-wife had a child 200 days after our divorce, am I the presumed father?
Under §160.204(a)(2), yes. The child was born before the 300th day after the date the marriage was terminated, so the presumption attaches to you. This is true even if you were not present in the state during the conception window and even if the mother identifies another man as the biological father. Setting the presumption aside requires a proceeding under §160.607, filed within four years of the child's birth.
Does signing the birth certificate make me the presumed father?
Signing the birth certificate at the hospital, without a marriage, typically creates an acknowledged father status under a separate statute rather than a presumed father status under §160.204. The (a)(4) presumption applies specifically when a man marries the mother after the birth and then signs the birth certificate or files an equivalent record. If you signed at the hospital and never married the mother, look at the Acknowledgment of Paternity rules under §§160.301 through 160.316 rather than §160.204.
What if I lived with the child and mother for the first year and a half but then moved out?
Section 160.204(a)(5) requires continuous residence "during the first two years of the child's life." Moving out at 18 months breaks the continuity before the two-year mark is reached, and Texas courts have generally read (a)(5) to require residence that extends across enough of the two-year window to reflect an ongoing parental role. A permanent move-out at 18 months usually defeats the (a)(5) presumption. It does not necessarily prevent other paths to legal fatherhood.
Can DNA evidence override the marriage-based presumption?
Not on its own and not outside the §160.607 window. Inside the four-year window, a properly-collected legal DNA test can support a proceeding to adjudicate parentage and set aside the presumption. Outside the four-year window, DNA evidence is only a trigger to look at whether one of the two §160.607(b) exceptions applies. The presumption stays in place until a court sets it aside on the record.
Does an at-home DNA test count as proof I am not the father?
Not in a Texas parentage proceeding. Home tests are for personal knowledge. They are useful for deciding whether to open a legal case, but they are not court-admissible because they lack the chain of custody the courts require. If a legal proceeding begins, the court will order a formal test under §160.502, and that test is the evidence the court will rely on. For general procedural background, the Texas Judicial Branch self-help page is a starting point, though it does not address §160.204 directly.
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