Legal Question in Family Law in California

You do not have to permit anyone in the birth room that you do not want present! Talk to your nurses upon admission and give them a list of people who are not to be permitted admission during the birth of your child under any circumstances. You will automatically, because you are not married to the dad, be entitled to full custody of your child, at least for a while, until the dad obtains court orders to the contrary.

Eventually, the baby's dad may pursue certain rights in the family court. You will need legal representation when that happens.

Keep in mind that your child will identify with both her/his parents whether you like it or not. If you say bad things about the father in your child's presence, your child cannot help but feel somewhat inferior because that child, whether you feel that way or not, will feel that you may dislike a part of the child that is similar to the father.

Therefore, never speak poorly about your child's father around the child. Always keep in mind that in family court, judges do not like a parent to speak poorly about the other parent. Therefore, keep any negative comments about the father between you and your attorney. Until the father brings an action in the court to gain certain rights, you are in charge.

Hopefully, this child will be the wake-up call the father needs to become a responsible and productive parent.

My advice is threefold: (1) Behave yourself, (2) Say only nice things about the father, and (3) Take good care of your child. If the father sues you for rights, talk to a family law attorney. I wish you all the best!

Ms. Morris has given you great advice. I would just add an answer to the other part of your question about what rights he has. Based on the date of your question, I'm sure you have your new baby by now. I hope the birth was uneventful and you have a wonderful healthy child. If you and the father both signed a declaration of paternity in the hospital, he is now the legal father of the child. If you did not, he has no rights until you either both sign the declaration form, or he goes to court to establish paternity. If he has or does establish paternity, then you both will have the same rights as if you had been married, had a child, and then got divorced. The courts will treat your child support and custody rights and duties the same as in a divorce case. That means he will have the right to ask for a share of custody or visitation and you will have the right to oppose it if you think that is the best thing for the child. You both will have the right to ask for a change in the custody orders later in the child's life, if and when circumstances change. You both will have an obligation to support the child, and the person who makes the most money or has least custodial or visitation time will have to pay child support to the other. There is a computer program that calculates how much, based on each person's income and the percentage of custodial time (and a bunch of other things, but those are the two main ones).