Q: Is there any reason or benefit in an unmarried mother filing a petition to establish paternity?
My daughter has a 5 yoa son with her ex boyfriend. He has not seen the child in almost 2 years. We just got word from one of his family members that he’s going to be filing a petition to establish his paternity. My daughter for some reason wants to file first so she can be the first to say what she wants in the petition (sole parental responsibility & supervised time sharing for dad due to his long history of drug abuse). I told her she should let him file 1st b/c he very well may be lying & have no intentions of filing. But I wanted to know if there is any good reason or benefit in her filing?
A: There is no advantage to filing first. The court is going to do what is in the best interest of the child regardless. Until anyone files mom has 100% rights over the child.
Bruce Alexander Minnick agrees with this answer
1 user found this answer helpful
A: Regardless of who files first the mother should be in favor of establishing the legal identity of the father--for more than one good reason.
1 user found this answer helpful
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