Non-Biological Father but Name is on the Birth Certificate, Do I Have Any Rights

[thasilentweapon]

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: FLORIDA.

I'm not the biological father but i signed the birth certificate 8yrs ago and have been in the child's life ever since. We split 7yrs ago. She tried to put me on child support about 4 yrs ago but I fought it and won. Because I told the judge that I didn't want to be on child support if I have already been taking care of the child financially. I asked for a DNA test and told the judge that i would continue to take care of the child regardless of the DNA results. The judge granted me a DNA test which came back as the child not being mine. She's is married now and i have been unemployed for a year and a half and I'm in school full time to get myself together to better myself so i can provide better for my child.I'm married now. But normally if I don't get the child on thanksgiving i get the child on Christmas. Well when I picked the child up we verbally agreed for me to bring the child back Tuesday after Christmas.She demanded she was gonna pick him up Christmas (Saturday) in which i refused to let her get him because of our verbal agreement. She threatened to call the police on me if i didn't bring the child to her. I then called and consulted with a police officer friend of mines. He informed me that there was nothing she could do about the issue. She called the police on me and they told her they could do nothing about the issue . Now that I have returned the child on the agreed upon verbal date, she say's she will not let me see the child unless I have a court order. I she tries to control me and what I do by always threatening to not let me see the child who is now 8yrs old he calls me Dad because I'm all he knows.

My questions are:
Do I have any legal rights to file for joint custody?

IF I do have rights, with me filing for joint custody can she try to come after me for child support again?

Will I have to pay child support if a judge has already ruled I didn't have to pay child support?

[joerocksford]

Find the PDF for "The Psychological-Parent and De Facto Parent Doctrine:" It outlines your argument, although FLORIDA is currently not on the list of states allowing a petition for De Facto Parent.

Connecticut, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington (this data seems a little old, double check).

Rohlf_Final.pdf

I spoke to a lawyer that succeeded in awarding full custody of a non-biological father, but then lost another case with very similar circumstances. This lawyer told me it's an evolving area of law, in which the State (Washington) sometimes doesn't even follow their own guidelines.

But most of that is a moot point since Florida doesn't recognize The De Facto Parent Doctrine.

Good luck to whatever you decide. In my opinion, I'd go back to her and plead for visitation, because she really is the one with say in this situation.

--jr

[Dogmatique]

Are you saying that paternity was legally DISESTABLISHED 4 years ago?

If yes - you have no standing to sue for anything at all.

If no - then you can file to establish an enforceable visitation order, and she can (and should) file for child support. The judge 4 years ago cannot have ordered that you will never be liable for child support - that would have been an illegal, unenforceable order.

Of course this is moot if you're no longer the child's legal parent.

[thasilentweapon]

But doesn't my name being on the Birth Certificate still makes me the legal parent? When I went to court 4yrs ago it was just so I didn't pay child support not take my name off the birth certificate.


and Thanks @Joe Rock for that info I'm going to look into that

[Dogmatique]

Then in that case, it would appear that you're still the legal parent. In which case you can file for visitation, and Mom can file for child support.

I gotta ask - is there a reason you think you shouldn't pay child support? For your legal child?

[thasilentweapon]

Putting me on Child support to me has always been for dead beat fathers who don't financially take care of their kids that's why when she tried to put me on it and i was already financially provided for the child made no sense to me.Seemed like she was just trying to get me to give her the money instead of me getting what the child needed.I have given her money before and she use the money for other things instead of getting my child what she said she was going to get him

[Dogmatique]

Putting me on Child support to me has always been for dead beat fathers who don't financially take care of their kids that's why when she tried to put me on it and i was already financially provided for the child made no sense to me.Seemed like she was just trying to get me to give her the money instead of me getting what the child needed.I have given her money before and she use the money for other things instead of getting my child what she said she was going to get him

...a child support order protects ALL of you. And please understand that Mom is allowed to use child support for, basically, whatever the heck she pleases. She also would not owe you an accounting of what she spends it on provided kiddo has food, clothing and a roof of his head.

So are you saying that you've been consistently supporting your child for the entire duration? As in, according to your state's guidelines?

[joerocksford]

Then in that case, it would appear that you're still the legal parent. In which case you can file for visitation, and Mom can file for child support.

I gotta ask - is there a reason you think you shouldn't pay child support? For your legal child?

Dogmatique: Can't mom just as easily request he take a paternity test, and if he refused she could refuse visitation by default? Actually, he already had a paternity test return negative results for the child being his, so why does the signature on the birth certificate matter? I thought that a paternity test trumps everything else?

[aaron]

A private paternity test does nothing of itself to remove a legal father from a birth certificate, nor does it affect visitation or custody orders. Also a mother can't simply demand that the legal father take a paternity test - if he says no, it's not going to happen without a court order.

As was previously indicated, what matters is what the court orders in this case say. It sounds like thasilentweapon (silent but deadly?) opposed a child support petition by asking a court to disestablish his paternity and that the court did so based upon a DNA test. If in fact that happened, the ordinary consequence would be that thasilentweapon is no longer the child's legal father and voluntarily gave up any right to custody or visitation.