Legal Question in Family Law in California
dose my name have to be on my baby's birth certifacit for me to have any right's or say about my baby son? my girlfriend the mother of my baby son,about a week a go desided to up and leave with my son when i asked her why she wasn't comming home she told me "my family diddn't like her." but that isn't true,my aunt would call her and have come over so she could visit with her.
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1 Answer from Attorneys
"On the birth certificate" has no legal meaning. Since 1997, however, in order to be on the birth certificate you must have gone to court to prove paternity, or both mother and father must have signed a Voluntary Declaration of Paternity. So if you are not on the birth certificate it sounds like you have never legally established that you are the father. Therefore, you have no legal rights until you go to court and establish legal fatherhood.