My rights as a legal father?

[WChakowski2473]

I've been divorced from my ex-wife for 4 years now. She moved back up to Rhode Island from NJ. In the divorce i gave her everything she wanted figuring she would never try to keep me from my son. But as soon as the divorce was final everything changed. We stopped talking to them for 3 years because she started telling me that i had to have supervised visits which weren't in the divorce, so i did the wrong thing and just shut down and went into a depression. I'm finally starting to come out of it and made contact with her and she throws at me that she changed my sons last name to her new husbands. Can she legally do that? i would love nothing more than to have my son back in my life. I just need to know where do i go from here?

 

[jharris352]

You need to enforce your visitation arrangement and/or go back to court to get one. I do not think she can have the child's last name changed (you need to see if there was an adoption without your consent). Leaving the child for 3 years is abandonment so you could have some problems if she terminated your rights. You will however be able to overturn it if you were not properly served.

First things first, what does your visitation/parenting plan say.

 

[Duranie]

Grow a backbone to her. She has no right at all to keep your child from you but since you have waited so long to do anything about it, it is unclear how easy it will be to get vititation. Take your paperwork to an attorney, and file contempt against the ex.

 

[Proserpina]

During the time of no visitation, were you paying child support regularly? It matters...