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Baby born in different state than it's father. What are the father's rights?

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mick.meister

New member
What is the name of your state? Wisconsin

A guy (who lives in Wisconsin) gets his girlfriend (who lives in Illinois) pregnant. The guy and girl split up. What rights/options does the father have if he wants to be apart of the baby's life? Is the mother allowed to move to another state?

If this information matters at all, the baby was conceived in Wisconsin. It will be born in Illinois.
 


Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Who are you in this situation?

The father has the same rights as in any other situation, as does the mother. Mom can move wherever she wants. If dad wants to be a part (not "apart") of things, then he needs to play nice with mom-to-be during the pregnancy so that he can be part of that. After the child is born, he has the same right as any other father or purported/presumed father to file for a paternity determination (including a DNA test), custody, visitation, and for child support to be established.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
What is the name of your state? Wisconsin

A guy (who lives in Wisconsin) gets his girlfriend (who lives in Illinois) pregnant. The guy and girl split up. What rights/options does the father have if he wants to be apart of the baby's life? Is the mother allowed to move to another state?

If this information matters at all, the baby was conceived in Wisconsin. It will be born in Illinois
.

That doesn't matter since the mother never lived in Wisconsin.

Jurisdiction for any case will be IL if mom stays there. Dad has the right to file to establish paternity, custody, parenting time and child support. Depending on the distance between homes, dad will likely have to start out visiting in mom's community but will eventually have parenting time in his own community.

Mom can move anywhere she wants while she is pregnant. If she moves to another state while she is pregnant and has the baby there, that state will have jurisdiction. Once the baby is born, again, depending on the distance between homes mom might still be able to move anywhere she wants to. If its already going to be long distance between them, there will be no reason for a court to force mom to remain in IL.
 

not2cleverRed

Obvious Observer
What is the name of your state? Wisconsin

A guy (who lives in Wisconsin) gets his girlfriend (who lives in Illinois) pregnant. The guy and girl split up. What rights/options does the father have if he wants to be apart of the baby's life? Is the mother allowed to move to another state?

If this information matters at all, the baby was conceived in Wisconsin. It will be born in Illinois.

Don't expect to be able to use this to "prove" that Mom created the distance, and ask that she be on the hook for all the travel costs.

(By the way, where conception occurred is very difficult to prove, and not legally relevant in this situation. While the sexual act may have occurred in Wisconsin, conception (the egg fertilized by sperm) can occur up to 5 days after the deed. So it is possible to have sex exclusively in Wisconsin and have the conception occur in another state.)
 

HRZ

Senior Member
Until the baby is born , the "father " has no rights and as a practical matter the Mom to be is free to relocate and take up residency just about anyplace she seeks to do so before child is born and could pick a state like NJ or MA that provides a rather liberal view of dad being required to support his child thru college or one that has child support formulas more favorable to moms point of view .
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
Notice that the OP never told us what the distance between homes was, despite being asked for the information multiple times.
 

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