Unwed mother needs sole custody

[bricenoale]

Hi I am an unwed mother with a very important issue at hand.
On April 5 2008 I had my baby daughter at the time I was living together with her father, but never married. When she was born he signed the birth certificate, however she has my last name.
When she was two months old he decided to leave the house and moved to another state.
He had a drug issue which would cause problems between us constantly. On October 2007 he was arrested for possesion of marijuana and plead guilty to two felony charges off possesion of large amount of cannabis and tamper of evidence. He still abuses drugs and alcohol.
Since he left he has not sent any money, and he does not call or worry about our daughter.
Now, I want to get full custody of my daughter, because he is constantly hidding from me he denies to sign her passport, and he denies contact with us, I had to go through a whole ordeal just to find what state he is in (sotuth carolina) He does not want to be a father to our daughter.
I am currently unemployed but full time college student living on my own with support from my mother. He is unemployed and dropped out of highschool.
What are my chances if I wanted full legal and physical custody. Let me add he would never show up for a hearing if we were asked to show up for one.
And also if i ask for child support how would that affect my situation

 

[jacksgal]

He dropped out of High school? How old are you two? The likihood you can gain sole physical and legal custody is very slim. You can however seek "supervised visits" only from Dad. If you can show he has drug/criminal history and possibly still using drugs you are likely to gain this request. Is there a court order for support? If not then legally he owes you nothing

 

[bricenoale]

Ok i understand what you are saying, but is there any way that I can make legal decisions for my daughter without having him involved, for example like the passport situation.
And to answer your question, he dropped out of highschool a long time ago, he is 23 and i am 20.

 

[WhirledPeas]

You can ask the court for sole decision making ability. If he doesn't show up for court, it's likely a default order will be entered, meaning essentially that you get what you ask for. You have to prove that he was served with the paperwork within a certain time frame though.

Child support is another matter, but if there's no parenting plan, the two are often heard together. Your county clerk's office has the forms you need and possibly help to provide or refer you to.

 

[ohiogranny]

You can ask the court for sole decision making ability.

As an unwed mother, doesn't she already have that?

If you have never been to court with dad, you have sole legal and physical custody. I'm not sure if he would have to go to court for paternity since he acknowledged it, but he has no visitation rights until he asks the court for it. And he doesn't have to pay support without a court order for it. You could file for it but it may be difficult without an address for him.

You probably don't need him to sign the passport if you have sole legal custody.

 

[irish223]

If the father is listed on the birth certificate, then she must have a court order stating that she has sole legal custody in order to get a passport for her child without the father's signature.