Do I have any rights?

Status
Not open for further replies.

NeedsAnswers321

New Member
Ok so here is a siuation. My boyfriend has a daughter from a previous relationship. The mother had her up until about eight months ago when she went to prison and the child has been living with us ever since. During this time we had a child and were suppose to become a happy family of four.
Instead, right before our child together was born he started drinking heavily and seeming to go insanne...literally. He would wake up in the morning to two 40 oz beers, go to work(under the table construction), come home and drink 2-4 more 40 oz beers in about 2-3 hours, and eventually pass out on his face in the living room floor and most of the time pee all over himself. Then on the weekends was worse. He would wake up at about 7am and start drinking. By 10am he was in a drunk rage. Yelling, useing profane language, throwing things etc. He would end up leaving(on foot because we dont own a car) and stumbling around town all day, getting into fights and hanging out with homeless people and the neighborhood gangsters. He would come home after dark, barely able to stand on his own two feet and blast music and continue to drink until he passed out and most of the time pee on himself. His 4 year old daughter would witness this and would hide in her room.

About a month after our baby was born I couldnt take it anymore and one day I told him that I was going to go stay with my parents until he gained control of his problem. He had made my pregnancy a nightmare, was drunk at the delivery, and didnt show the amallest intrest in the baby. The final straw was one night he came home stumbling drunk and picked our sleeping 5 day old baby up and couldnt even keep on his own two feet. When I tried to take her he started swinging at me.
When I left we decided that I would take both the children. He knew he couldnt take care of a child and continue to work. And I knew that he couldnt take care of her at all.

Now it is almost 5 months later and I am still at my mothers house with the children and he is still doing the same thing. He talkes to his daughter on the phone every night before she goes to bed unless he is too drunk to remember or answer his phone when she calls. When I talk about ending the alcohol problem so our family can be back together again, he gets angry and threatens to take his daughter away from me. He says to send the child down to him and our relationship is over then. I cant do this. I know that he can not take care of a child. He cant hold a job or keep a steady place to live due to his alcohol habbit.

Can some one please let me know if i have any rights to his child? I need help immediately and cant afford a lawyer. Do I have any chance at custody?
 
You have zero rights to the child and zero chance you can get custody.In fact if he sobers up long enough to think clear he can get you for kidnapping! Contact CPS or his or Mother's parents tell them let them take child. Its not perfect but it is your best option. By the way you get yourself to some alanon meetings they will do you a great deal of good? How do I know this? I live and am married to a 22 year sober recovery alcoholic
 
No kidnapping. He signed a temporary guardianship form and we had it noterized. I am not keeping him from comming to get her. Pretty sure he cant get me for kidnapping if he tried.

I do not drink.
 
Just because something is notarized, doesn't mean it's legal. It just means the person signing it is who they say they are and it's witnessed. If this wasn't filed in court, it's useless. It might prove his intent, but you do not have guardianship. It didn't go to court and mom wasn't served notice of it. You have no legal rights to that child.

The other poster is right, let a relative care for the child, they can maybe get some kind of court-ordered custody.

Did he and the mom ever go to court? Is he even the legal father (DNA, signing papers at hospital)?

As for your child together, you were not married so you have custody. Is he this child's legal father? You could file for paternity, (supervised) visitation (if you can prove he is a danger) and child support.
 
If he signed over guardianship to you then you probably cannot get charged with anything. Although rare, it is not unheard of for step-parents to get custody. If the courts feel the child is better off with you, it might be granted especially since you have the half sibling. Mom is incarcerated so the courts are left with few options, besides foster care or another relative who may not have any relationship with the child.
 
Duranie, she is not married to him, she's not a stepparent.
MAYBE she could become a foster parent to the child, and MAYBE the probate court would accept the notarized paper and grant her actual guardianship?

I would like to know if he is the legal dad.
 
As for him being the legal father, yes I think he is. There is a court ordered child support case and they established paternity. He is not on the birth certificate though.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Ask a Question

Back
Top