Legal Question in Family Law in Indiana
Dispute custody
My husband had a girlfriend before we got married who got pregnant and said the child was his. He signed the birth certificate when he saw the baby at 3 months of age. He has not seen the child since. The mother married a year or two ago, and my husband and I have a child. The woman's sister called and said she had passed away and the family wants my husband to take a four year old little girl he has only met once. As far as we know they live in Indiana. We live in COlorado. He doesn't beleive the child is really his, and we believe she may be trying to locate him using these tactics. We do not think it would be good for the child or for our family for her to move so far from anyone she knows to live with complete strangers. 1.) What legal rights do we have? 2.)Is there any responsibilty on the part of the woman's husband or other family members? 3.) If we have a paternity test done and the child is his can we get full custody and sever all ties from her family? 4.) If not can we deny custody of the child and sign custody to another family of our choice?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Dispute custody
For all practical purposes your husband established paternity by executing the affidavit of paternity. That means that if the mother is dead, he is the only person who has a right to take the child into his home without getting a court order. Any other relative or interested person would have to go to the county probate court and ask for a guardianship over the child.
It is difficult to verify that a person has died unless you obtain a death certificate. If I were you, I would certainly want the death certificate of the mother, the child and the child's birth certificate. To the extent that your husband now wishes to challenge paternity, he has only 5 months in Indiana to do so after the mother's death, so he needs to act quickly.
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