does he still have rights?

[melissaw23]

Jurisdiction

Michigan

The father of my children has been in and out of jail a year at a time every few months. He went to prison and I wrote up a paper saying he will not have rights to the children until he can hold a job and stay sober for a full year. Then he can get supervised visitations. We both signed this and I turned it into the friend of the court. I was told by many people he still has rights to the children. Is this true? To what extent if so? I have many concerns when it comes to my children's safety. The judge is aware of his addictions and his past incarcerations along with past abuse and still allows visitation before this letter was wrote. Any advice will be very much appreciated!!! Thank you in advance!

 

[cbg]

Unless a court has says that he has no rights to the children, he does.

 

[weigoldm]

Unless a court has says that he has no rights to the children, he does.

So is it possible rights can be taken from him? I was also told State of Michigan wont take rights away no matter how unfit a parent is unless there is someone to take over such as a step parent thats willing to adopt.

 

[army judge]

The father of my children has been in and out of jail a year at a time every few months. He went to prison and I wrote up a paper saying he will not have rights to the children until he can hold a job and stay sober for a full year. Then he can get supervised visitations. We both signed this and I turned it into the friend of the court. I was told by many people he still has rights to the children. Is this true? To what extent if so? I have many concerns when it comes to my children's safety. The judge is aware of his addictions and his past incarcerations along with past abuse and still allows visitation before this letter was wrote. Any advice will be very much appreciated!!! Thank you in advance!

If you and the convict were unmarried when the children were born, he never had any parental rights.

Your note wasn't necessary.

If he and you were married when the children were born, he retains all the rights you possess.

Pick yer poison, mate.

 

[cbg]

There are a lot of unknowns here, including whether he ever had rights in the first place. It is rare, rare, rare that a parent's rights are terminated altogether, however, once they are established. The point I was trying to make is that the paper you wrote up has no legal enforcement behind it. If he has been established as the legal father, it will take far more than that before a court will consider removing his rights, and if he has not been, then he didn't have rights to them to start with.

So. Were you married to him when the children were born? If so, then he is automatically the legal father. If you were not, we can go from there. Please note that if you were not married at the time of the birth(s) that does NOT automatically mean that he is not legally the father.

 

[ElleMD]

If you are submitting documents to the court that implies that paternity has been established, and there is an existing custody agreement of some kind. These agreements can be modified and if he is a "guest of the state", you have a very good reason to modify. That does not mean he loses all rights to the kids, but it can mean he does not get visitation.

 

[leslie82]

The father of my children has been in and out of jail a year at a time every few months. He went to prison and I wrote up a paper saying he will not have rights to the children until he can hold a job and stay sober for a full year. Then he can get supervised visitations. We both signed this and I turned it into the friend of the court. I was told by many people he still has rights to the children. Is this true? To what extent if so? I have many concerns when it comes to my children's safety. The judge is aware of his addictions and his past incarcerations along with past abuse and still allows visitation before this letter was wrote. Any advice will be very much appreciated!!! Thank you in advance!

You don't get determine what rights he has to his children. Only the court can decide that. What did you think your "friend of the court" would do with it?

You have to go before a judge to change visitation. Is there a court ordered visitation plan in place? Were you married or unmarried when the children were born? Was paternity ever established if you were unmarried?

 

[cbg]

That's not even close to true.

 

[leslie82]

I agree with @army judge! One thing that you can do is divorce him and prove that he does not have a stable job in that way the complete custody of the kids will be transferred to you!

What? That's not true. At all. You don't even know she's married to him.

Armyjudge never said anything like that. He said if she was unmarried when the kids were born, he has no custody until he files for it. If they were married then she has to divorce him and file for custody but there's no guarantee she gets it. If he's in jail probably.

That note was nothing. She needs to get a lawyer and go to court.

 

[ElleMD]

Lots of unemployed parents get custody. In fact, not having a job and being available to parent full time can tip the scales in favor of that parent, especially if they were the caregiver when the other parent was working.