QUESTION
what rights do i have as a the father of my unborn child.?
Asked on Sep 28th, 2016 on Child Custody - Utah
More details to this question:
im 21 the mother is 20, she is 4 months pregnant. i am trying to be in my child's life, she is making it difficult. i haven't gone to any baby appointments because she does them when i am working. i tell her to schedule them on my day off and she does. couple days before she changes it and puts excuses. she keeps telling me " forget about this child being yours" "Don't look for my F****** child ever". we are not married. i just want to have a father role and be a good role model. she keeps saying she will move from utah to idaho "because i don't have nowhere else to go and i have no one here" i want to fight for custody of my child. i feel like she is not going to be a good mom. i beg her to take me to one appointment but she has not.
1 ANSWER
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David R. Hartwig, Esq.
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You need to be very careful and ensure that you take steps now. to preserve your rights. You need to file an acknowledgement of paternity, which can take any one of many forms, including filing a court action for paternity now. My main concern, and the most dangerous problem, is that she does move before the child is born, and fails to advise you. Under Utah law, if to do not take any of the steps required to acknowledge paternity prior to mom consenting to an adoption, you lost your legal rights. And, her moving to another state, even if you simply attempt to file a form with the state, is not guaranteed -- in Utah, there is a recent case about a similar situaiton coming out of Colorado to Utah with dad having only signed an acknowledgement, mom came to Utah to have the baby, and dad had to go all the way to the Utah Supreme Court. But that case did not involve having filed a court case, which may well be a better option.
The very best thing you can do is get with an experienced family law attorney. I have handled a number of these cases, should you want to contact me.
Answered on Sep 28th, 2016 at 1:07 PM