Q: Do I have any rights?
My sons mother left us two years ago, she left him with me willingly and has not seeked custody or tried to implement much effort in seeing him she sees him from Saturday to Sunday every other weekend. Does this give me any rights or does she alone have custody even though she left him and has not given effort or care to implement any type of order. Should I file for sole physical custody?
A:
There is some information missing from your question that could be quite important. The first being, are you on the birth certificate? If you were at the hospital when the child was born and completed a Voluntary Declaration of Paternity, there is a good chance you are. That being the case you could file a Petition for Custody/Support, and a Request for Order for custody and timeshare orders; get a court date issued and serve the other side.
If you are not on the birth certificate or ever been declared the father in any other type of action such as a support case by the county, you would file a Petition to Establish a Parental Relationship along with a Request for Orders, set a court date and serve the other side.
Either one will get you to the same place, which is a hearing before the court to determine the custody/timeshare of the parents with the child.
All of this is contingent, of course, that there is not presently a custody order in place at this time.
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