Known Father
A father holds his sleeping newborn against his chest beside a sunlit window.

The deadline may already be running.

If you may be a father and an adoption is possible, some states give you a few days after the birth to act. Others give you until an event you will never see. Known Father shows which states could decide the case, and what each one requires.

Find the states in playSee every state

No two states count the same way.

Each state wrote its own rules: which office, which form, which deadline, counted from which event. This is what the states checked so far actually require.

A man's hands holding an ultrasound printout over a kitchen table.

Before the birth

Every state checked so far lets a father file before the child is born.

A man fills out a paper form at his kitchen table at night, an envelope and stamps beside him.

Days, not months

Ohio: 15 days after the birth.

Arizona: 30 days after the birth, signed before a notary.

Texas: 31 days after the birth, unless a petition to end parental rights is filed first.

A hand drops a large envelope into a blue mailbox on a street at sunset.

It counts when it arrives

The safe reading in each of these states is that a mailed filing counts when the office receives it, not when it is mailed. The real margin is shorter than the number.

Some have no number at all

Florida: the window closes when a petition to end parental rights is filed.

Utah: the window closes when the mother signs her consent.

51 jurisdictions. 5 checked against their own forms.

A checked state gets a full page: the deadline, the state's own form, where it goes, the notary rule and the fee. Every other state gets a page that says plainly we have not checked it yet, and links to the state's own site.

  • Checked against its own form
  • Not checked yet
California: not checked yetAlaska: not checked yetOregon: not checked yetWashington: not checked yetNevada: not checked yetIdaho: not checked yetArizona: checked against its own formUtah: checked against its own formMontana: not checked yetHawaii: not checked yetWyoming: not checked yetNew Mexico: not checked yetColorado: not checked yetNorth Dakota: not checked yetSouth Dakota: not checked yetTexas: checked against its own formNebraska: not checked yetKansas: not checked yetOklahoma: not checked yetMinnesota: not checked yetIowa: not checked yetMissouri: not checked yetArkansas: not checked yetLouisiana: not checked yetWisconsin: not checked yetIllinois: not checked yetMississippi: not checked yetIndiana: not checked yetMichigan: not checked yetAlabama: not checked yetTennessee: not checked yetKentucky: not checked yetOhio: checked against its own formGeorgia: not checked yetWest Virginia: not checked yetSouth Carolina: not checked yetFlorida: checked against its own formNorth Carolina: not checked yetVirginia: not checked yetPennsylvania: not checked yetDistrict of Columbia: not checked yetMaryland: not checked yetNew York: not checked yetDelaware: not checked yetNew Jersey: not checked yetVermont: not checked yetConnecticut: not checked yetNew Hampshire: not checked yetMassachusetts: not checked yetRhode Island: not checked yetMaine: not checked yetAZUTTXOHFL

The statute is not the form.

Arizona's statute never mentions a notary. Its form requires one. A father who followed the statute alone would mail a form the Bureau turns away, and could run out his 30 days. A state gets a full page here only after someone has read its form.

"... shall be signed by the putative father."
A.R.S. 8-106.01
A man signs a document while the notary's hand rests on her stamp beside it.
A father and his toddler walk hand in hand down a dirt path at sunset.

Which states could decide your case?

Where you live, where the mother lives, where the child was conceived and where the child will be born can each put a state in play. Answer what you know. Nothing you enter leaves the page.

Find the states in playSee every state