Legal Question in Family Law in California

You can try saying the father is unknown on the birth certificate,as he is not involved, but he can try to establish paternity. If he does, he will be responsible for paying child support for the first 18 years of the child's life, so that may be a deterrent. I do not know your age or ability to raise a child without a father, but you should get some counseling from a knowledgable person about your situation. I am sure you want what is best for your baby. It sounds like you are best rid of this guy. Good luck!

Just to clarify Elizabeth's answer, which is correct, yes he can force a DNA test if he can establish to a court that he was your sexual partner contemporaneously with the estimated date of conception, which is not hard to do. It is the strong public policy of the state that children know who their parents are, and that both parents contribute to the child's needs, particularly financial. In fact if you ever have to go on any kind of public assistance, the Department of Child Support Services can take action to establish his paternity too. So you're probably better off being proactive and getting the paternity established, get him on the hook for support, and use the circumstances as grounds for asking that he be denied or given only minimal supervised visitation, and after the child is no longer an infant.