I need some advice...unwed mom

[almom]

I have a 9-month-old son and I live with his dad. We are unwed, and have been having lots of problems lately. He used to abuse me when I was pregnant. I unfortunately have no instances on file. Although the police were called 3 or 4 times, I never pressed charges. My boyfriend yells at me in front of the baby and yells at the baby from time to time. I would love to leave him and raise the baby myself, but I do not know if this is possible. He makes more money than I do, and i fear that his parents (who are very wealthy) will hire some lawyer who will take him away from me. What are my rights, and his? Please help!!!! Let me know if any more parameters are needed to assess this! Thank you so much!

 

[Duranie]

You have total rights and custody right now since you are not married. In most states since you are not married, he has no rights until paternity has been established. Did he sign an acknowledgement of paternity?

You need to look into moving out, see if you can stay with friends or family.

Right now you call the shots. You can get up and leave and he will need to file for paternity and visitation.

You cannot eliminate him from the baby's life if he does not want it. He does have rights as a dad, once they have been established.

I would file for child support and custody, with him getting visitation. Since you have no proof of the abuse, then you probably have no chance of getting supervised visitation, but you chose him to be the father of your child, so he does have some rights.

Your best bet is to see an attorney, or see if legal aid can help you. You do not need an attorney though to file for child support.