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Father's rights

  • Thread starter Thread starter cpb
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C

cpb

Guest
What is the name of your state? FL
I have some questions please... my son is 19 years of age and has a 5 week old daughter with an ex-girlfriend. He has been involved with the mother as far as all doctor's appointments, stayed in hospital with her & baby following delivery, had mother and daughter stay at our house overnight to see his daughter etc. Mother wanted a relationship with my son after daughter was born, but my son doesn't. My son had his first overnight parenting time with his daughter this past weekend and the Mother now is saying he cannot have anymore overnights because the daughter is too young to be away from Mother. My son wants overnights to bond with his daughter.
What are my son's options? Mother says she has a lawyer (I'm not so sure) and the lawyer has said that the law will side with the mother. Can you guide us in the right direction? My son wants shared custody or if not possible, joint physical custody of his daughter.
 


B

Bre's_mom

Member
Your son needs to establish paternity, and get a parenting plan in effect, do it now... Call the court house and see if there is a self help desk, if there is then go there and get the paper work needed for this. It's really important that he do this ASAP. He can put anything he wants in the parenting plan, the bio mom might not agree, and she can fill out a parenting plan also, and the judge will choose, what he feels is in the best interest of the child.
If you can get the bio mom to agree to something thats the best, but if not then the judge will deside. But please do it now...Good Luck:) :cool: :D :p
 
H

hjallge

Guest
In most cases, equal rights for parents is something that is not hard to get. Unless your son has some serious skeletons in his closet, then I personally see no reason why the rights would not be equal. At least until the child reaches school age. File in court before she does; it will show the judge and her that he is serious about taking an active part in his daughter's life. Good luck.
 
B

Bre's_mom

Member
He needs to file paternity, and a parenting plan. I'm not sure how the paternity works, that's why i recommened calling the court house to see if there is a self help desk. If you have the self help desk, it would help alot. I hope this helps, I wish your son the best. Keep coming to this site for answers, there are alot of other people that know tons of information about this. Good luck...:p ;) :)
 
K

ktarra617

Member
Your also needs to file because in some states until paternity, custody, and support is established in court then mom doesn't have to let him see the child at all. He must go to court to establish his rights and have his rights protected.

If he doesn't then mom may be able to do whatever she wants without so much as a by your leave to dad.

It just depends on what florida law is. Do some research, get a free consultation with a few different lawyers. Take notes and go from there. Your son needs to do this now! Don't wait. The longer he waits the harder it will be to get equal right to his child.

Good luck to him!!
 
C

cpb

Guest
I realy appreciate all of your thoughts. We are trying to find information from the Clerk of the Court. However, we are a small county, and the county seat is 35 miles away. I'm trying to find out what paperwork he needs to fill out as quickly as possible, but not knowing the law is frustrating. We have called an attorney for some advice, but there again you wait for a call back. If anyone out there has ANY additional information, please post it. Does anyone out there know what the Florida law is? Does Florida recognize shared custody? Are County judges more prone to favor conventional custody? Please advice.
 
W

WCC

Guest
i'm in fl too and yes they do have the shared custody thing. i know of a father who's son is school age but he and ex both live in the same school district so the child is with dad 4 days, mom 3 days then it flip flops so they both have him equal time and no support to either. thay share all expenses such as medical etc... mom fought tooth and nail to have sole custody but judge saw the effort on dad's part. also, when no order is established, i was told that both parents have equal rights to child. if child is with sitter, either parent can just show up and take the kid, just not from each other. so, what i'm trying to say is that mom doesn't have to turn the baby over and neither does dad so long as mom's not trying to nurse or something that would look like dad was not looking out for best interest of baby. what county are you in?
 
C

cpb

Guest
New development...the mother says she has filed child support papers and even if my son & her reach an agreement they can't be stopped. Is this true?? Does custody have to be awarded before support is dictated by the state? The mother is denying visitation and says the state will back her. If mother has already filed custody with court is it too late for father? Will the judge look at his desires?
 
W

WCC

Guest
you can check with your county on line to see if she has filed...type key words :

(your county) florida clerk of circuit court. look for tab that says civil records and then you should be able to search by party name. it's my understanding that the web sites for most county records are updated within 24 to 48 hours. she may be bluffing. your son doesn't want to waste any time. he needs to retain an attorney. good luck
 
C

cpb

Guest
Now I'm concerned. My son went to see an attorney today, and was told that Florida doesn't have shared custody, joint physical custody or joint legal custody. He was given a standard visitation agreement to review with the mother and make changes as needed or desired. He was instructed to ask her to sign a paternity acknowledgment, visitation agreement and the support amount. The lawyer said if she refuses, he will file an emergency order with the court and it will stand for about 6 months while we await a court date.

Af first response, she's refusing. So tomorrow we tell his attorney to file the emergency motion, and he'll see his daughter next weekend. Is my attorney not up on the law? Is there shared custody, joint legal or joint physical in Florida?
 
W

WCC

Guest
florida

i swear my friend has 50/50.....i'll call in the am and ask exactly what it's called........went thru osceola county clerk of court....i know it wasn't a mutual or uncontested settlement either......mom had a cow over it. i'll see what i can dig up and maybe even email you a copy of their order......i have access to a search dept. so i can dig up loads of good stuff usually before the ink is dry....
 
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