Legal Question in Family Law in Utah
Divorce and children
My husband and I got divorced while I was pregnant and he put in the divorce papers that there were no children in the marriage so that he could basically walk away. My daughter is now a month old and he has decided that he wants to come back and have something to do with her, how many rights can he have back when regarding our daughter if we take this to court?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Divorce and children
I read the response you received from the other attorney and it is incorrect. If you were pregnant at the time of the divorce, there is a legal presumption that your ex-husband is the father of the child and upon the child's birth, your ex-husband is legally deemed to be the child's father. Procedurally, the decree needs to be amended to reflect the fact that you were pregnant at the time of the divorce and that he is the father of the child. This will, of course, require him to pay child support and share in the payment of out of pocket medical expenses, health insurance premiums and work related child care costs. The bottom line is he will be entitled to have all of the rights a father would normally have in a divorce action.
Re: Divorce and children
Unless he has filed a paternity action, and been declared the father of the child, and has obtained a visitation order from the court, he has no rights. If he is named the father, the court can establish visitation rights. The visitation rights vary with the facts of the parents and child.