Legal Question in Family Law in California

I have been married for three years and I have a 6 year old son thru out my mariage my husband has claimed to be my sons father but now we are getting a divorce so can I take my husband to court for visitation for my son since my son sees him as daddy


Asked on 5/03/11, 11:49 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

You can't force visitation on anyone, not even in a traditional marriage where you get married then have a child together. In every marriage where children are involved, you need to work out with your husband a new relationship for the three of you and how involved he will be in the child's life. That is not an issue the law gets into unless the two adults each are trying to get more time with the child than the other agrees to. If one of the adults doesn't want time with the child, the law cannot force them. Although you don't ask, I should also mention that if he has held the child out to the world as his and raise him as his own, there is some possibility that he could be treated as the legal father for child support. This is not a great case for it, being only three years out of six, but it is at least possible. That might be a lever to increase his interest in staying in the child's life, since child support goes down the more time the child spends with the paying parent.

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Answered on 5/04/11, 12:25 pm


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