Custody & Kidnapping

Generally, a mother’s custody rights are automatically established at birth but a father has to do something to declare his custody rights if the parents are not married. Whether the father has custody rights already or whether he would have to go to court to file for custody rights may depend on whether his paternity has been established. Establishing paternity is when a biological father does something to legally declare himself the father. Do you know if the father’s paternity has been established - either by signing an affidavit of paternity at the hospital or afterwards through a child support case. If you are unsure, then you may want to check with an attorney to see if it may be the case that he has never legally established his parental rights. In general, if a father’s rights are not established, it may be the case that the mother may be the only one with legal custodial rights and so a mother may choose not to file for custody. If the father’s rights have been established, then some states assume the father to have equal rights to the child and a custody order may be needed to re-determine who has custodial rights. Again, I cannot speak to your state or your specific situation regarding these topics though.

The reason why many mothers get a custody order is when the father is trying to visit with the children or keep them with him more than the mother wants. Are you worried that may he come for a visit and not return the child? If so, you may want to ask an attorney if you should file for custody and set up a visitation schedule. However, once there is a court order, it has to be followed by both parties or there can be consequences and sometimes the court custody order ends not what the parent(s) wants and gives the other parent more rights than s/he had before the parent filed in court.

THIS PARAGRAPH TALKS ABOUT WHEN SHE SAYS SHE WANTS FATHER TO GIVE OVER HIS RIGHTS - TAKE OUT IF NOT RELEVANT: You also mentioned that you want the father to sign over his rights - are you asking him to voluntarily relinquish (give up) all future rights and responsibilities to the child. Generally, this type of action is different than giving up custody and in some states, a court may be reluctant to terminate a father’s rights and responsibilities (especially the responsibility to support the child) if there is not another father figure taking over those rights. I cannot speak to how STATE handles this and what the courts will look at when deciding whether or not to allow a parent to give up his/her rights.

TAKE OUT 2 PHRASES ABOUT RELINQUISHING RIGHTS HERE IF NOT RELEVANT:You may want to talk to an attorney about the pros and cons of filing for custody and relinquishing rights and about whether or not the father can relinquish his rights - and, if so, how to do so.

Again, you may want to talk to a lawyer who specializes in custody to find out if his paternity has been established and, if so, what your rights are under STATE law and what the pros and cons are for you filing for custody. Here is a link to lawyers (free and paid): LINK

And here is some more information about custody in general in STATE:LINK