Legal Question in Family Law in New York

Re: Child Custody

Unfortunately, it seems to take a long time between when you submit your question and when it then gets "circulated" for answers.

It is difficult to sort out who was married to whom, if anyone, w/regard to this pregnancy. It does make some difference if anyone was, or is, legally married to the woman.

Now-a-days, single, out-of-wedlock fathers who "step up" and assert an interest in custody of infants because they {the fathers} claim the mother is "unfit" do get treated a little bit better than in the past.

Having said that, one should also point out that a lot depends on *where* you are - - the policies & procedures & 'outcomes' in Family Court are not at all uniform from county to county / from city to country.

If you can afford to hire an attorney, you should try to learn as much as you can about the available choices of attorneys in your area. In my estimation, the chances of succeeding in a case such as yours appears to be

{note that important 'qualifier' = "appears to be"}

depends largely on How It Is Presented. If you cannot afford an attorney, you will have an opportunity to have an attorney assigned to you, free of charge. However, you still need to begin to get "clear" in your mind that a case such as yours has to be presented carefully: put otherwise, it will not work to go charging into court yelling that this woman is an unstable nut case because she grew up in a home where profanity was used. That tactic simply won't work.

Note this important aspect: if you are not legally married, now, she can 'claim' you are the father, but she cannot get you "named" as such on the birth certificate without your active participation. Although one school of thought might be to urge you to act quickly, another school of thought might be to suggest that you wait to see what the woman does, after the baby is born.

Again - if you can hire an attorney, _now_ is not too soon to begin to seek his/her professional advice and counsel.

Good luck.

Regards, etc.,

J. M. Hayes

>>--> The foregoing amounts to musings and observations based on some years familiarity with the 'day-to-day' operation of the law with regard to the issues involved In The Most General sense; my remarks should not be thought of as "legal advice and counsel" in the formal sense of that phrase, since there is, in fact, no 'attorney / client' relationship existing between us. <-<<

Re: Child Custody

I can understand your concern. You can and should sue if you are truely concerned about the child's well being. Although you can handle things like this by yourself in Family Court, I would suggest you hire an attorney. Having a child removed from it's mother is an uphill battle, and you need the assistance of a qualified attorney.