Legal Question in Family Law in Ohio

Allowing father of child in his life for first time.

In 1998, while living in Ohio, I became involved in a loveless relationship that ended with me becoming pregnant and the father becoming bitter. With the situation as it was, I was afraid to stay in Ohio not knowing what action, if any he might take to keep me in the state. I also was without any financial or emotional support so I returned to CA. and had my son. My son now wants to know his dad so I called him. He seems willing to work with me in being a part of our son's life, but I want to make sure that we are protected against any actions he may be able to take that is not in our verbal agreement. Since he was in a different state, his name was not given at the time of birth. I now would like to have it added and also give him certain parental rights as far as our son is concerned. At the same time, I want to make sure that we will be protected from any parental kidnapping situations that I have heard about so often when one parent resides in another state. Your assistance in how this should be handled would be greatly appreciated.


Asked on 7/14/02, 9:08 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Douglas A. Crowder Crowder Law Center

Re: Allowing father of child in his life for first time.

The best protection that you can get would be by filing a paternity action, asking that he be legally named as the father, and also awarding you custody of the child and giving him reasonable visitation. That way, you would be able to let the child visit him, but he would be required to return the child to you when visitation time was up, or face possible charges.

You would also request the court to set a level of child support for him to be paying you.

A less expensive option is to just have an attorney prepare an agreement for you and the father to sign that sets forth the same terms. Then, if he fails to comply with the agreement, you could file a court action then.

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Answered on 7/15/02, 1:55 pm


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