Q: My boyfriend and I broke up for 2 months and are again living together(trying to work on our relationship.)
He filed for parental rights when we were broke up. He was living with some new girl and her daughter just a couple days after the breakup.. I still allowed our daughter to stay overnight at this girls house with him.. just about every weekend.. even after lying to me about where he took her the first time I allowed him to have her before I knew he had a new girlfriend.. He still filed for rights and we have court in a couple of days. What do we do now that we are back together? He wants rights still and also doesn’t want to waste the money he spent to file. He did want me to agree to shared parenting, but I don’t want too now because we’re together and if we don’t work out.. he doesn’t have a stabile living environment for her.. he was living at his new girlfriends place when we were broke up and now he’s back to staying at my place. I just don’t know how we should go about this. He jumped into going to court too soon and we are not at all prepared.
A: Just because you have allowed him to move back in for now, does not really have any effect on his filing for parental rights. Your living arrangement with him could affect how much he pays in child support. It seems doubtful that you will have a long-term relationship with him, based on his history. But you and he will remain involved as parents for your child, under the supervision of the court, until she reaches age 18. These are the problems that arise when unmarried couples have children and don't stay together. You now have a complicated situation that cannot be undone, and at times it will make your life difficult during the next 18 years, if you and he cannot get along in the best interest of your daughter. Use the Find a Lawyer tab to retain a local family law attorney for yourself, who can review the situation with you, answer your questions, and advise you about the court proceeding, and how best to deal with him going forward.
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