Modification of Custody in Georgia

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Georgia.
My child was born in 1999 and I was never married to the father. He was absent from the child's life for over a decade and has a large amount of child support arrearage. I allowed him back into the child's life, thinking she deserved to have two parents, and 3 years later I was blindsided with a petition for modification of custody.
The father also claimed in those documents that we were legally married, even citing a divorce date and county, even though that was untrue. I believe that that was included intentionally in order to 'get around' Georgia's strict unwed father custody laws (I was awarded primary custody in 2001 and he was given visitation rights, however no DNA testing was ever completed and at that time an unwed mother had full rights). In researching this issue, it seems that the new Georgia law does not give any rights to an unwed father who acknowledged or established paternity prior to July 1, 2005.
My question is this; If the father was never given my permission to legitimize the child, there was no DNA testing, and we never signed a paternity acknowledgement, is he entitled to custody of our child?

If he files, establishes paternity, legitimizes the child (he doesn't need your permission for that), yes he'll have the rights to some sort of custody and visitation.

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Quoting GAMommy

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I was awarded primary custody in 2001 and he was given visitation rights, however no DNA testing was ever completed and at that time an unwed mother had full rights

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Is there or is there not a court order present?

There is a court order, which I had never seen until served with the Petition of Modification just recently, that states that the child is legitimate. Prior to that, I was only under the impression that there had been a temporary order, not identifying him as a legitimate father, because he could not be located for years for an official hearing. I was not notified nor did i consent to any type of paternity acknowlegement in the other filing. In fact, I had been living in another state for several months with the child by that time.
In Georgia, it seems that, from what I've gathered, an unwed father is not legitimate without a legitimation hearing and a paternity acknowledgement signed by both parties and any court orders prior to 2005 of the contrary are null and void. If that is not the case, then please let me know otherwise. I just know that there had to be a reason his attorney would claim that we had been 'married and divorced' in the petition and it was signed by him. A marriage just doesn't seem like something one would forget.

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Dogmatique, in what way would he have to establish paternity and would I have had to allowed this? Yes, he filed and, according to court papers in 2001 (when the child was over 2 years old and without biological testing, nor my acknowledgement of paternity) he was declared legitimate. But in no way has paternity been established and even in child support enforcement docs, it clearly states that, in 2008, he was told that 'no prior order establishing paternity exists' and he waived his right to genetic testing.

Doesn't matter - it appears that paternity is established.

So let's get back to the real issue here. Why don't you want him to have access? (That's the underlying issue isn't it?)

I did...I moved back to the state when he took interest in being a father and encouraged the reunification. We got along surprisingly well for years. Sadly, his greed took over and, in the end, he chose to ask for child support from me and kept our child from me for ver a month. Now our child is suffering and in the middle of this mess-something I never wanted to happen.

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Quoting GAMommy

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I did...I moved back to the state when he took interest in being a father and encouraged the reunification. We got along surprisingly well for years. Sadly, his greed took over and, in the end, he chose to ask for child support from me and kept our child from me for ver a month. Now our child is suffering and in the middle of this mess-something I never wanted to happen.

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I'm not understanding.

Are you trying to stop access?

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Quoting Dogmatique

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I'm not understanding.

Are you trying to stop access?

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Sounds like it because she's all of a sudden lost the control she thought she had. There's no reason to deny this man access and decision making ability to this child (that's she's mentioned, but we all know this is where the story will get more grandiose). In the end, paternity was established and the child was legitimated. End of story.

I would like to see what he presented as a divorce decree though.

I would never deny access, even after what has happened. As far as decision making, he MOVED with the child over an hour away from me, without my consent or knowledge. I found out by way of a county sheriff sent to do a welfare check during the month I was denied access. As much as you would like to vilify me, I am a good mother and co-parented with the father better than most...even after he was out of the picture for over a decade. I have done everything the 'right way' and I have seen my child just 10x in three months so now I must try to find something to get this thrown out or moved quickly because I am a mother watching her child self-destruct because of this.
And the 'divorce decree', was the final order from 2001 giving me custody of the child....definitely not a divorce decree.

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Quoting GAMommy

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I would never deny access, even after what has happened. As far as decision making, he MOVED with the child over an hour away from me, without my consent or knowledge. I found out by way of a county sheriff sent to do a welfare check during the month I was denied access. As much as you would like to vilify me, I am a good mother and co-parented with the father better than most...even after he was out of the picture for over a decade. I have done everything the 'right way' and I have seen my child just 10x in three months so now I must try to find something to get this thrown out or moved quickly because I am a mother watching her child self-destruct because of this.
And the 'divorce decree', was the final order from 2001 giving me custody of the child....definitely not a divorce decree.

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Did you respond to his petition stating that you had never been married to him, that the divorce information was bogus, that he had been out of the child's life for 10 years and had only recently come back into the child's life?

What did you do to try to get your child back when dad just up and kept the child?