Custody & Kidnapping

I cannot speak to your situation in particular but in some states, a father cannot be put on a birth certificate until both parents sign an affidavit of paternity, which legally acknowledges the father’s paternity. I do not know if this was done prior to having the father’s name on the birth certificate in your situation. When someone’s paternity (legal fatherhood) rights are established, it depends on the state’s law as to whether he may have equal parenting rights as the mother or whether the mother is still considered to have custody until a court order – I cannot say how your STATE law would interpret this. You would need to speak to a lawyer in STATE who specializes in custody may be able to advise you.

Do you think that he will file for custody or visitation of the child. If that is the case, is your plan to try to fight it based on him not being the biological father. Again, I can’t say if this is the case in STATE but often times, judges may consider how long it has been since the man has held himself out as the father and what type of understanding the child has about the man being the father when deciding if either parent can now try to say he isn’t the father and shouldn’t have rights. If it has been many years that the child thinks of the man as his father, it may be possible that a judge could say that both parents may be “equitably estopped” from now saying he isn’t the father. In other words, due to fairness to the child, either parent may be prohibited from trying to disprove his legal paternity. However, again, I cannot say if this applies to your situation or how a judge in your state and in your situation would handle a situation if either parent now asked for the father’s paternity to be disproven. You may really want to talk to a lawyer in your state who you can explain your case to and get advice. We have some legal referrals here: LINK

And here is some info about custody in case you find yourself in a court custody case:LINK