False Info on Discharge Paperwork

[SoF88]

Jurisdiction

US Federal Law

I just found out my boyfriend lied to me about why he was involuntarily discharged from the Marine Corps, and actually lied ON his paperwork to the people processing his separation; he faked a suicide attempt and lied about both a fictitious divorce, and a "vicious custody battle" over an imaginary child. He was given an involuntary medical discharge and receives VA benefits as a result. He's been emotionally abusive, and I was already getting my ducks in a row to leave him and petition for full physical AND legal custody of our 2y/o daughter before I found this out. I want to bring the indiscretions up in court as evidence that he is unfit to make decisions on her behalf, but I'd like to know first if he can still get in trouble for this, or if there is a statute of limitations. I don't want to get him in trouble, I just want to protect myself and our daughter from further abuse and toxic behaviour.

 

[army judge]

A boyfriend who is alleged to have fathered your child has no parental rights.

You can leave him now, right this very minute and take YOUR child.

He doesn't have any rights or claim to YOUR child.

He has to go to court, petition for a court ordered paternity test, and once the DNA says he's the father, he then must petition for visitation, he won't get custody. He then needs to request an order, or you can request an order of child support.

You, you alone, have custody of your child.

Get out now, you need not waste your time, nor the court's time with whatever lies he may have told in the past.

 

[SoF88]

A boyfriend who is alleged to have fathered your child has no parental rights.

You can leave him now, right this very minute and take YOUR child.

He doesn't have any rights or claim to YOUR child.

He has to go to court, petition for a court ordered paternity test, and once the DNA says he's the father, he then must petition for visitation, he won't get custody. He then needs to request an order, or you can request an order of child support.

You, you alone, have custody of your child.

Get out now, you need not waste your time, nor the court's time with whatever lies he may have told in the past.

Would that I could, but he claimed to "want in" and was present at her birth; he signed the declaration of paternity at the hospital, and she bears his surname

 

[army judge]

Would that I could, but he claimed to "want in" and was present at her birth; he signed the declaration of paternity at the hospital, and she bears his surname

It means NOTHING.

Every unmarried male that claims (or is alleged) to have fathered a child from an unmarried woman has ZERO parental rights until he does o court, requests a paternity test, the TEST proves he's the father, then he requests visitation and child support.

Signing a birth certificate is a meaningless gesture, no matter what he says.

You, and YOU alone, are the ONLY person in this world that has any legal, lawful authority over any child(ren) you bear to term while unmarried.

If you were married, the law says otherwise.

You are unmarried, and you are the only LEGAL parent your children have.

You can take your child(ren) anywhere you want to take them without anyone's permission, even some dummy who signed a birth certificate or pretended to be a physician and cut an umbilical cord, or rubbed your belly while you were in pain.

None of that sentimental garbage means anything legally.

Lady, you have all the cards, and you can play this hand YOUR way.

You aren't bound to some dude that didn't marry you, and neither are YOUR kid(s).

 

[SoF88]

It means NOTHING.

Every unmarried male that claims (or is alleged) to have fathered a child from an unmarried woman has ZERO parental rights until he does o court, requests a paternity test, the TEST proves he's the father, then he requests visitation and child support.

Signing a birth certificate is a meaningless gesture, no matter what he says.

You, and YOU alone, are the ONLY person in this world that has any legal, lawful authority over any child(ren) you bear to term while unmarried.

If you were married, the law says otherwise.

You are unmarried, and you are the only LEGAL parent your children have.

You can take your child(ren) anywhere you want to take them without anyone's permission, even some dummy who signed a birth certificate or pretended to be a physician and cut an umbilical cord, or rubbed your belly while you were in pain.

None of that sentimental garbage means anything legally.

Lady, you have all the cards, and you can play this hand YOUR way.

You aren't bound to some dude that didn't marry you, and neither are YOUR kid(s).

Seriously? Are you absolutely positive? Because when I went to Legal Aid for a consult, the attorney there told me that when he signed the certificate and filed the paternity declaration in lieu of a test, it granted him full rights and responsibilities, and that I would have to petition for custody.

I was livid because she flat out told me to cooperate fully, not try to deny him his rights in any way or I'D lose custody, and that if I tried to prove the alleged abuse I would be laughed out of the court room!

I figured my only recourse would be to prove him an unfit parent based upon his ethical and moral laxity.

Truly not trying to argue or be a pain, just very confused, and more than a little trepidacious.

 

[army judge]

You are confusing paternity with custody.

All he signed was his death warrant.
He signed and agreed to pay child support.
The state will help you collect it for free.

Paternity has nothing to do with custody.

The custody of children born by mothers out of wedlock is IMMEDIATELY, TOTALLY, UNILATERALLY vested in the birth mother.

The male must go to court and request VISITATION.

Unless the mother is a drug addict, insane, or a child molester; UNMARRIED males will never get custody.

They will initially get SUPERVISED visitation.

Read this:

Establishing Paternity FAQs

Establishing Parentage/Paternity - paternity_famlaw_selfhelp

Parentage/Paternity - paternity_famlaw_selfhelp

Paternity Opportunity Program (POP)

 

[SoF88]

Thank you so much for being up so late, and willing to speak with me on this. I've been nearly out of my mind with fear about the whole mess. God bless you!

 

[mightymoose]

Perhaps I can make it slightly clearer. The declaration of paternity does establish him as the legal father and gives him the right to SEEK visitation or custody. He does NOT have visitation or custody rights until established by a court. Either of you may initiate that process.
If there is no existing court order for visitation or custody then you are free to do as you wish until there is one.

As for the military question, I'd say yes, if he committed an act of fraud and is collecting from the government, he most certainly can be in some big trouble. A statute of limitations would not even begin until the fraud is discovered, which apparently it has not been, and when it comes to Uncle Sam and his money the rules are always in his favor.

 

[leslie82]

I just found out my boyfriend lied to me about why he was involuntarily discharged from the Marine Corps, and actually lied ON his paperwork to the people processing his separation; he faked a suicide attempt and lied about both a fictitious divorce, and a "vicious custody battle" over an imaginary child. He was given an involuntary medical discharge and receives VA benefits as a result. He's been emotionally abusive, and I was already getting my ducks in a row to leave him and petition for full physical AND legal custody of our 2y/o daughter before I found this out. I want to bring the indiscretions up in court as evidence that he is unfit to make decisions on her behalf, but I'd like to know first if he can still get in trouble for this, or if there is a statute of limitations. I don't want to get him in trouble, I just want to protect myself and our daughter from further abuse and toxic behaviour.

You need to put the state you're in.

If he attempted suicide, they aren't going to try to prove if it was "fake" or not. The military has been taking any suicide attempts seriously the last few years.

Was he married and had a child? I would think that his command would know whether or not he was married and had a kid already. I highly doubt he got discharged for a "vicious divorce and custody battle." That's not a discharge. You can get discharged for not having a family care plan. If he got a medical discharge it was for behavioral and/or physical issues. Did you see his paperwork?

Bring it up in court why? It has nothing to do with your child with him or anything else. If you are an unmarried parent or you weren't married when you had the child he has no rights until he establishes them. If he's abusive just leave him.

He may not get custody but he is probably going to get visitation if you take this to court. And he'll have to pay child support.

I don't think anything you've said will have any play in him not seeing the child if he establishes his paternity.

Him signing the birth certificate is just one step he has to do to establish paternity. He has no rights now. If he's abusive then you should report it. Otherwise if you have no reports of his abuse you can't really bring it up in court as there's no evidence of it.

I don't think there's much you can do "if' he lied to get discharged. He's just one of the many who have fooled the system to get benefits.

 

[army judge]

You need to put the state you're in.

The state is California.

Yes, the VA, and the Marines (Department of the Navy) are always interested and will investigate all allegations of fraudulently obtaining Uncle Sam's loot.

If he did this, he is also subject to prosecution under the UCMJ.

Usually the person will be called back to active duty to investigate, or the civilian federal authorities will acquire jurisdiction and the local US Attorney will prosecute.