Q: The father of my child has been in and out his life for 1 year and 6 months. He doesn't know how to take care of him,
He is not on the birth certificate and he once told me that he wanted to keep partying Instead of being a father. Now he is saying that he is ready and that he wants to step up. Is it legally too late? I don't know if I want to trust him or not because not only has he abused me but he had anger issues in the past. What should I do?
A:
Until his paternity is established, he doesn't have any right to see the baby. If he wants to have rights, he has to go through the legal process of filing a paternity action. It is not legally too late for him to do so because it sounds like he has made some very minor efforts to be in the child's life over the past year and a half.
If he does file for paternity, the anger and abuse issues can probably be used against him to limit his visitation pretty strictly.
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