Q: I have a voluntary acknowledgement of parentage signed but name is not on birth certificate. Do I have righhts?
My children were born before me and my wife were married. We are now going through a divorce and about to go to our first court date in a week. We signed the Voluntary Acknowledgement of Parentage about a month ago and I sent it in. I thought that was all I needed to do. I got a letter in the mail that wants copies of marriage certificate and signed affidavits from both of us to be notarized and mailed back in. I think this is to get my name included on the birth certificate. I cannot get her to cooperate on anything now, and she claims she doesnt have an ID to get the paper signed in front of a notary. Is the VAP we signed enough to ask for custody rights when I go to court? Or do I have to have my name included on the birth certificate as well. I mailed the original VAP she sent me off but I kept copies showing we both signed it. The kids have been living with me the last 6 months because she left. Do I have rights to ask for custody and is parentage established?
A:
If you are going through a divorce, the initial document filed with the court should have been a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage. It should have included a list of the children you have. If the Petition lists all the children and the other side admits the list is correct, the court can declare you to be the father of the children and make rulings about parenting time (formerly called custody), child support and so on. If the Petition does not list all the children, you'll need to talk to your lawyer about how to make the divorce court aware of the situation.
It isn't clear to me who sent you the letter asking for a copy of the marriage certificate and affidavits, so I won't comment on that.
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