When a child is born, there is no legal question who the mother is: the mother is the person out of whose body the baby comes. The identity of the father can be a matter of some dispute. For unmarried fathers, resolving this issue is crucial.
Who – Legally – Is the Father?
Minnesota automatically recognizes the woman who gives birth as the child’s parent. The father is not automatically afforded that presumption.
Without a signed Recognition of Parentage (ROP) or a court order, the mother can exercise her presumptive legal rights and deny the father the ability to live with or even see his child.
If the mother and father are married, the father is presumed to be the father.
If they are not married, the father has to do more than be named on the birth certificate — he has to be legally acknowledged as the child’s parent.
Recognition of Parentage
A father who intends to be present in his child’s life, to tuck the child into bed, to help with homework, to teach the child to ride a bike, needs to be adjudicated the child’s parent. Otherwise, he risks losing his fundamental rights to parent his child.
Get a ROP signed and filed so you are legally the child’s father.
Without a signed Recognition of Parentage (ROP) (which requires both parents to agree to sign) or a court order (which doesn’t), the mother can exercise her presumptive legal rights and deny the father the ability to live with or even see his child.
Without a signed ROP, the mother could take the child out of state. She could enroll the child in her choice of school, or promote her choice of religious upbringing, or initiate medical treatment without getting the father’s permission — or even discussing these things with him.
The Child’s Best Interests
A court can adjudicate (order) any combination of parental rights based on the child’s best interests.
The court can order that the child live primarily with the mother . . . or the father. That parent has primary “physical custody.”
The decision-maker has “legal custody” of the child, and the court can order that either parent has that right or that they share the decision making equally.
Unmarried Fathers’ Rights and Obligations
Unmarried fathers should take reasonable steps to embrace their rights and obligations as a father. Get a ROP signed and filed so you are legally the child’s father.
The court may order either parent pay child support to the other (depending on the parents’ means and their financial obligations). Calculate who owes whom how much child support here.
None of these rights are automatic, and what rights and obligations each parent has can be shaped by the parents and the courts. Consult the Barry S. Edwards Law Office to find out what you ought to do if you are an unmarried father.
I have won fathers their rights several times. Check out the the stories of Charles and Ryan in the Barry S. Edwards Law Office Family Law Success Stories.
I am 18 and my girlfriend is 16, we are unmarried and just had our first kid, well her mother is trying to say that she can tell my girlfriend that our son cant come stay at my house, is my girlfriends mother able to do so?
I have a seriously important question about child custody in the case that the mom went to treatment and the dad is unfit as well
Laural, I missed this question, earlier. A parent going to “treatment,” which I presume means drug or alcohol treatment, does not necessarily mean either parent is unfit.
I to have a question about custody. My nephews and niece’s mother abandon them 8 years ago and suddenly she wants them back. I’ve heard that she now has 3 other kids from different men. My brother, the 4 kids father gave up his parental rights to my sister and her fiancee, and they are the guardians of the kids. Can my sister and her fiancee protect the kids from their mother?
There are laws that allow interested third parties, usually people like in your situation who have actually cared for the kids, to get Third Party Custody. Feel free to call to make an appointment to talk about your options.
I have a question. My son’s dad signed an ROP because he said his mom made him. My son is ten we went to court 2 times when my son was first born for child support. He left right after my son was born and he signed the ROP. He was court ordered to take parenting classes, alcohol drug classes, and anger management classes. He never did and only sees my son 2 times a year when his mom makes him. Now that I’m married his mom makes him ask my husband if they can take my son for the day or over night. My son doesn’t want to go with them. I meet them half way to see my son. What should I do?
Signing a ROP does not determine paternity (does not legally make someone the child’s dad). It merely creates a presumption. It also does not confer parenting time. From what you have said, “Dad” has no court-ordered parenting time, and Son does not have to honor what I understand to be Grandma’s demands.
Question….My son and his now ex-girlfriend have a baby boy. They singed to ROP and now that they are not together she will not let him see his son unless he does what she wants, which is to try to get back together. He doesn’t want to and now she is holding the baby against him and won’t let any of us see him. She has lived with us pretty much since baby was born up until this last weekend. What can he do to be able to see his son? She is conniving and manipulative and uses the baby to try to get what she wants.
Dad needs to file a Petition for Paternity (a formality with an ROP and no arguments about paternity) and for Custody.
Barry,
My case is hard to explain so I will try my best, I am 24 yrs old and I have a 5 yr old daughter, the mother walked out when she was only 9 months old and left me (who at this time had no idea how to parent a child) to basicly be mom and dad witch I did and have been doing since. Well her mom has decided to get her life together and now that it’s convenient for her she wants to step in and pretty much push me aside and start making decisions about my daughter and not letting me have any say in anything. YES I signed the ROP and since she was MIA I have made all decisions including school, Dr appointments, county assistance etc. So I know I need a court to deem me any rights but until we get there can she tell me where I can and can’t bring my daughter? I recently had to move an hour away and she is telling me I’m not allowed to take her to my house cause she has an issue with my fiance, does she have a say in that or can I take her to my house against her approval or would that cause legal issues? I’m trying to do this the right way but I’m running out of options. My daughter begs me to come to my house and that she doesn’t want to live with her mom. Do I have anything on my side or do I NEED to go to court?
Hi there, My son had a negotiation worked out for 50/50 custody of his 4 year old son. It came up in August but read that unless revisited would remain in effect. Well she quit a job at over 22.00 an hour to collect assist after moving to the cities. Making it short, she is using Vicodin but because she gets two per day for h/a they don’t care. Getting cash assistance but committed welfare fraud because she lives with so called landlord, her boyfriend, the one she cheated on my son with. Now because she gets food stamps ECT. they want my son to appear for C.S. hearing on May 24th.. Help, he feels helpless, he is already raising his daughter from first girlfriend, lost her to drugs also, ( girlfriend ). He is wonderful kid and drives city bus. Can you help