Legal Question in Family Law in Pennsylvania

Thank you for your question. I do not know what you mean by, "getting full custody". If you are trying to cut off the father's rights completely, you would file a "Petition to Terminate Parental Rights". If you are trying to limit the father's rights to spend time with his son, you would file a "Complaint for Custody" and have the Court outline the father's visitation rights.

I am sorry that your child's father is not meeting his obligations as a father and is not paying child support. However, under Pennsylvania law, a father's right to have a relationship with his child is not contingent on his paying child support, nor will the Court deny the father his right to have a relationship with his child, or children simply because he is serving a jail sentence. In other words, visitation rights do not depend on whether or not the payor parent is living up to his obligations of support, or living his life on the "straight and narrow" because the law recognizes that people make mistakes and by serving time in jail, the father is actually paying the price for his mistakes.

If you are considering getting full custody of your child, you would have to file a Petition/Complaint for Custody and serve a copy of the Petition along with the Court Date on the father so that he has the opportunity to Answer the allegations in the Petition and appear in Court on the hearing date of your Petition,

Best of Luck,

ANDREA G. TILLIS