Establish paternity has many benefits to both you and your child.  By establishing paternity you solidify parental rights and responsibilities that can help foster the parent/child relationship. 

Additionally, there are many legal reasons why establishing paternity can be important.  Paternity establishment can have an effect in areas such as estate law, tax law, and disability law.  Many times paternity establishment is necessary for your child to receive social security disability benefits based on your eligibility for these benefits.  As the Indiana Social Security Newsletter pointed out:

"Most people think of Social Security as a part of their retirement plan, but Social Security is also a family protection planwith benefits for children, too. About 4 million children, including 80,000 children in Indiana, receive approximately $1.9 billion each month because one or both of their parents are disabled, retired or deceased. Those dollars help to providethe necessities of life for family members and help to make it possible for those children to complete high school. So it’s important that parents are aware of who can get benefits based on their Social Security earnings record -- and when."