Father [Probate] Law and Legal Definition
A father is defined as a male parent of any type of offspring. The term father includes a man adopting and raising a child.
The following is an example of a case law defining father:
In In re Gillespie, 197 Mich. App. 440, 444-445 (Mich. Ct. App. 1992), the term father was explained as follows:
1. a man married to the mother at any time from the minor's conception to the minor's birth unless the minor is determined to be a child born out of wedlock;
2. a man who legally adopts the minor; or
3. a man whose paternity is established in one of the following ways within time limits, when applicable, set by the probate court:
a. the man and the mother of the minor acknowledge that he is the same minor's father in a writing executed and acknowledged by them in the same manner provided by law for the execution and acknowledgment of deeds of property and filed in the probate court in the county in which the man, mother, or minor resides;
b.the man and the mother file a joint written request for a correction of the certificate of birth pertaining to the minor that results in issuance of substituted certificate recording birth;
c. the man acknowledges the minor, without the acknowledgment of the mother, with the approval of the court; or
d. a man who by order of filiation or by judgment of paternity is determined judicially to be the father of the minor.
