As a San Antonio divorce attorney, I am very familiar with the strains that a pregnancy can put on a divorce case. If you are thinking about divorce, it is best not to get pregnant. If you do get pregnant, you won’t be allowed to divorce in Texas until your child is born. This sounds like an antiquated and perhaps sexist law, however, when you think about it, there is some reasoning behind it. Primarily, by preventing the divorce, the State of Texas is ensuring that you don’t have to open up 2 cases: one for divorce and the other for paternity. Second, Texas is ensuring that paternity will be figured out, so that both Husband and Wife will know their rights with respect to the newborn child when he/she arrives.
If you are not married, and you or your partner are breaking up and simultaneously expecting the birth of your child, you typically file suit whenever the baby is born. Once the baby is born, then a lawsuit is held to determine paternity and then set up custody, visitation, and child support. For Dads, setting up paternity is important to establish parental rights over the child.
While I am a strong believer that you should always have a lawyer assisting in any type of family law case, you can use the services of the Texas Attorney General to establish paternity, child support, custody, and visitation. Below is a link to their website about paternity. https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/cs/establishing-paternity