Praesens was the son and (as far as is known) the only child to Roman consul and senator Caius Bruttius Praesens Lucius Fulvius Rusticus and from his second marriage to rich Roman heiress Laberia Hostilia Crispina, daughter of the general and twice consul Manius Laberius Maximus.
Through her son, Laberia would become the paternal grandmother to future consul Lucius Bruttius Quintius Crispinus and future Roman empress Bruttia Crispina, who married the future Roman Emperor Commodus.