Legal Question in Family Law in Pennsylvania
unwed father's legal rights?
I am a 23 year old mother of a 4 year old daughter, i have been seperated from her father for 10 months. Heading states we were never married. I have not recieved any child support payments from him since May, (not court ordered, mutual agreement to pay weekly) I went up to domestic relations yesterday to file those papers. There has also been no court ordered visitation or partial custody awarded to him. I am worried he will not return her on the date he ''specifies'', or not return at all. He has proven himself unreliable with bringing her home on the date he says he will, and has also proven unreliable with keeping contact with the child, he'll go 2-3 weeks before calling and requesting to pick her up, and then requests to keep her for a week or more. No phone calls in between to speak with her, it seems as though she is only his daughter when it becomes convienient. Now my questions, do I have the right to refuse him visitation outside of my home until I feel these matters have been put at ease? Also, what would be the best route to take with these matters?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: unwed father's legal rights?
Your questions show that you know what I'm going to say.
Hire an attorney to settle this matter. Without agreements in place to enforce your understanding then there is no force to anything you and he agree upon. He is the child's father and can claim the right to house her as easily as you can without documents to prove otherwise.
You need an agreement to set out exactly what the visitation is to be and what the support payments are to be. Then if he doesn't follow through you have something to enforce.
Please contact me at [email protected] to further dicsuss this matter. I would be happy to discuss this or any other legal matter with you.
Regards,
Roger Traversa
Re: unwed father's legal rights?
You took the first step in resolving this matter by filing for child support so that you have a court order to enforce. If not done already, you should also file a Complaint to confirm that you have custody of the child, and to have a set schedule ordered that he has to comply with, and which you can enforce.
Please contact me if you wish to further discuss. I have several office locations.
Paul J. Stacom
www.divorceinpennsylvania.com
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