Unwed Farther Keeping My Daughter from Me. How Can I Get Her Back
My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Floroda
Does a father have rights if there is no court order and we were never married?
My Childs father and I were never married. I sent my daughter to see her dad for the summer and wad supposed to return her home. He didn't and told me i can't see her... That was in June now... She was supposed to come back in August now it's October!!! She had lived with me for the past 6 years... he and his Mom has told me that he has "the right" to keep her there as he is her dad. There is no court order in place for custody, although he is on the birth certificate. He registered her for school without my consent and said he isnt returning her... I'm just horrified and i feel helpless they won't let me see her and whenever she tells me she wants to come home they scold her. I'm just confused. He hadn't been an involved father all this time. Can he keep her? Can I go and pick her up? He is on the birth certificate however he has not gone to court to establish custody, and I have heard that unwed mothers have sole legal and physical custody unless father goes to court. what should I do? Can i go up to her school and pick her up? I'm devastated.
Re: Unwed Farther Keeping My Daughter from Me. How Can I Get Her Back
If he's on the birth certificate as the father AND already has the child in his possession, the only way you can ENFORCE anything is by going to court to GET a court's order. Without that, law enforcement isn't going to force dad to return a child who was willingly placed in his care and to whom he is a legal parent - not in the absence of a custody order to the contrary. It's easy to stop a parent without a court order from TAKING a child - - because you are correct that without a court order you have no obligation to share the child....BUT....it's VERY much harder to get a child BACK once you give them to the other legally established parent without a court order. You may have sole custody on paper, but you have nothing to ENFORCE or to ask law enforcement to enforce on your behalf. This really should have been done BEFORE giving the child to dad, not only because of the situation above, but also because now that the child has lived with dad for almost 6 months, dad has an excellent argument to the court that the child should STAY with him, rather than go through the trauma of again going to a new place to live, starting new routines, etc. You need to act quickly, and with the assistance of an attorney if at all possible.
Re: Unwed Farther Keeping My Daughter from Me. How Can I Get Her Back
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aardvarc
If he's on the birth certificate as the father AND already has the child in his possession, the only way you can ENFORCE anything is by going to court to GET a court's order. Without that, law enforcement isn't going to force dad to return a child who was willingly placed in his care and to whom he is a legal parent - not in the absence of a custody order to the contrary. It's easy to stop a parent without a court order from TAKING a child - - because you are correct that without a court order you have no obligation to share the child....BUT....it's VERY much harder to get a child BACK once you give them to the other legally established parent without a court order. You may have sole custody on paper, but you have nothing to ENFORCE or to ask law enforcement to enforce on your behalf. This really should have been done BEFORE giving the child to dad, not only because of the situation above, but also because now that the child has lived with dad for almost 6 months, dad has an excellent argument to the court that the child should STAY with him, rather than go through the trauma of again going to a new place to live, starting new routines, etc. You need to act quickly, and with the assistance of an attorney if at all possible.
An attorney advised me.that he has no rights to her without a court order as we were never married and unwed mom's have sole custody until or unless father challenges that. She also advised that i shouldnt let her stay down there too long.. I have seen on other.threads that dad can't legally keep the child when mom sends child to visit dad. .. But it doesn't sound like that from what youre saying
Re: Unwed Farther Keeping My Daughter from Me. How Can I Get Her Back
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Quoting
SashaiG
An attorney advised me.that he has no rights to her without a court order as we were never married and unwed mom's have sole custody until or unless father challenges that.
I never said he HAD rights. What I told you was that there is nothing that law enforcement is going to ENFORCE. The police will be very happy to agree with you that he doesn't have rights...but he DOES have the child, that YOU gave him, and since he IS the child's LEGAL father, police are going to tell you to go to court to get a custody order.
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She also advised that i shouldnt let her stay down there too long..
Absolutely correct, for the reasons I outlined above.
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I have seen on other.threads that dad can't legally keep the child when mom sends child to visit dad. .. But it doesn't sound like that from what youre saying
I'm not saying this dad can legally keep the child forever either. I'm telling you that dad keeping the child isn't going to CHANGE until you've got a court order at this point. Florida law enforcement isn't going to get involved in CIVIL family law matters until there is a court order that directs some action to take place.