Establishing Paternity and Custody Rights After the Mother Moves Away With the Child

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

I want to preface this by saying, this is a fictional situation and I'm asking in the interest of doing a little research. I'm really sorry if that's not okay! But in the rules it says not to pretend to be someone else, so I thought, maybe if I'm upfront about this situation being for a novel, you guys might help me out a little.

The situation is this. Mom and Dad were together, not married, and had Son. For various reasons, Mom took Son and left (went home to Uncle and Grandfather, in another state) when Son was eighteen months old. Through a series of misunderstandings and unfortunate events in which Uncle was the chief instigator, Mom stayed away for a year and a half, during which time she gave birth to Daughter, who is definitely Dad's child. Son has Dad's surname, but because Dad wasn't around for the birth of Daughter, Daughter has Mom's surname, if that's at all relevant.

Through my preliminary research I've figured out a few things, I think. First of all, because they weren't married, Dad has no actual rights, correct? Until his paternity is established? Because there was never any question that Son was his, so he never felt the need to assert his "rights". Now, since Mom has already taken off once, he's scared she'll do it again, hence his desire to get something in writing.

So here are my questions:

1. What advice would you give Dad? Right now, all I have is that he needs to establish himself as Son and Daughter's father by having paternity tests. After that, I don't know what he's supposed to do.
2. Given that Mom and Dad were cohabiting and were, technically, both custodial parents to Son at the time Mom left (and despite the fact that Dad had not yet asserted his paternity), was Mom's leaving (and staying away, and keeping Son away) a crime? I looked at the legislation for "simple kidnapping", where a non-custodial parent takes the child from the custodial parent, but that doesn't quite seem to fit.
2a. If it WAS a crime, what is the statute of limitations?
3. Given that the majority of misunderstanding and ill will was due to Uncle's actions, which were deliberate and malicious in intent, is there any way Dad can insist that Son and Daughter have no contact with Uncle?

I'm happy to fill in any more details if they're relevant to having the question answered! I'm also happy to delete this post if the fictional thing isn't allowed here, and if that's the case I'm really sorry to have bothered you all. Thanks in advance for any advice you might be able to give.

Hypotheticals are difficult to answer because the writer often varies the information as the answers are offered but as important is the specific facts of the case are needed to be accurate in an answer.

Anyway; dad cannot exercise his rights until paternity is established. If you want to speak in the technical sense, he has rights but cannot exercise them until paternity is established.

If if dad wishes to establish his paternity he should do so

after that, most parents would want to be able to interact with the child so he can either work with the mother so he can see the child or seek an order from the germane court to address custody and parenting time.

Mom leaving was not a crime not only because dad had not established legal paternity but generally a person is free to travel so unless there is an order in place restricting your travels, you're free to go where you wish, even after paternity had been established, unless there is an order in place restricting your travel.

You should research "parental kidnapping" to research the matter where the taking of the child out of the jurisdictional state is addressed. It is not generally automatically invoked and is often never asserted at all. The act to seperate the child from the other parent alone may not qualify as parental kidnapping. It generally takes a specific effort to intentionally prevent the conteact by the other parent greater than just the act of leaving before it will be applied.

With no marriage the mother is automatically given custody by default, even if paternity has been established.

Dad can restrict uncle from contact with child on his own parenting time if he chooses but unless dad can prove in court uncle is a danger to the child and a court orders uncle to stay away, mom can allow contact with whomever she chooses on her parenting time.

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Quoting jk

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Hypotheticals are difficult to answer because the writer often varies the information as the answers are offered but as important is the specific facts of the case are needed to be accurate in an answer.

Anyway; dad cannot exercise his rights until paternity is established. If you want to speak in the technical sense, he has rights but cannot exercise them until paternity is established.

If if dad wishes to establish his paternity he should do so

after that, most parents would want to be able to interact with the child so he can either work with the mother so he can see the child or seek an order from the germane court to address custody and parenting time.

Mom leaving was not a crime not only because dad had not established legal paternity but generally a person is free to travel so unless there is an order in place restricting your travels, you're free to go where you wish, even after paternity had been established, unless there is an order in place restricting your travel.

You should research "parental kidnapping" to research the matter where the taking of the child out of the jurisdictional state is addressed. It is not generally automatically invoked and is often never asserted at all. The act to seperate the child from the other parent alone may not qualify as parental kidnapping. It generally takes a specific effort to intentionally prevent the conteact by the other parent greater than just the act of leaving before it will be applied.

With no marriage the mother is automatically given custody by default, even if paternity has been established.

Dad can restrict uncle from contact with child on his own parenting time if he chooses but unless dad can prove in court uncle is a danger to the child and a court orders uncle to stay away, mom can allow contact with whomever she chooses on her parenting time.

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Just to add...

Establishing paternity means establishing paternity in court. Via a court ordered DNA test. A private DNA test is a waste of time and money.

DNA tests can be privately arranged through facilities whose test results will be court-admissible, although it's important to note that doing so is considerably more expensive than a non-admissible test, that either party can object to the test results and that it would be within the discretion of the court to order an additional test even if the parties have a court-admissible result. Also, a private test that disproves paternity may result in a person who is not the father either not being sued for paternity or not filing a paternity action himself. So there is potential for value.

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Quoting Mr. Knowitall

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DNA tests can be privately arranged through facilities whose test results will be court-admissible, although it's important to note that doing so is considerably more expensive than a non-admissible test, that either party can object to the test results and that it would be within the discretion of the court to order an additional test even if the parties have a court-admissible result. Also, a private test that disproves paternity may result in a person who is not the father either not being sued for paternity or not filing a paternity action himself. So there is potential for value.

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That is a valid point. If someone just wants to know, or wants to know before making the final decision to take something to court, then yes, it does potentially have value.

Thank you everyone for the help! I'll look into parental kidnapping as you've said.

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Quoting eastallegheny

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Thank you everyone for the help! I'll look into parental kidnapping as you've said.

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I can't see this being parental kidnapping in any way, shape or form. Custodial interference would be a huge stretch.