Legal Question in Family Law in California

Although not "dotting i's and crossing t's" can come back to bite you when it comes to legal matters, this may be a situation in which it is best just to do nothing. Once you make any record of his paternity, you automatically open yourself up to him claiming rights. He cannot, as a matter of law, surrender his rights except in the course of a step-parent adoption if you ever marry. I have a son with a woman I have not married, and we agreed when she got pregnant that she could have sole legal rights, but when we went to a specialist in the field we were told - and I confirmed through my own research - that it is not legal to surrender paternal rights. Since he can never surrender rights, the next best thing is to make it as difficult as possible for him to assert rights. So the least trail of records that he is the father the better. It doesn't mean that one day he could never show up, file a paternity action and prove he is the father, but it makes it much harder. If you file the declaration of paternity and put him on the birth certificate, all he has to do is show up and file for shared custody and he is likely to get at least some custodial time. You can never prevent it, but if you both want him out of your child's life, the less record you make now, the more likely that will be the way it goes.

Agreements between parents not to be involved in a child's life, or purporting to waive child support are unenforceable in California. Only a court can terminate parental rights, either through the exercise of police power in dependency court, or through a step parent adoption.

He would have to be present to sign a voluntary declaration of paternity. If he is in Sweden, he won't be present to sign it.