Q: Can I have a petition for legitimation, custody and child support dismissed ...

A: A judge is unlikely to dismiss a legitimation action by ruling on a motion to dismiss. Although you say you can't afford counsel, if the father has hired counsel, I would suggest you use credit, or anything you can to get the funds together to hire an attorney. If you do not consent to the legitimation you are going to have to put on your case in chief as to why the Court should not grant the action to legitimize and recognize him as the legal father. Also, I assume he's asking for possibly joint legal custody & some visitation and again, without an attorney, it is going to be hard for you to show the Court why his prayer for relief should not be granted. Further, we can't give you a step by step on here as to how to prove your case. This is going to be something you are likely to be unsuccessful with if you represent yourself. I wouldn't even file the Answer myself because it is unlikely to explain to the Court why the relief the Plaintiff is seeking should not be given. Start looking for an attorney ASAP.

A: Unfortunately, you will not be able to get the petition dismissed based solely on the protective order being in place. The father has the right to legitimate the children and obtain legal rights and visitation (after the protective order expires) with the children unless you can show the court it is in the children's best interest long term, meaning after the protective order has expired, for them not to have any visitation with their and that is difficult to do in most cases. The courts may, however, order the father to have supervised visits with the children for a specified period or require him to attend extensive anger management classes as well as parenting classes before allowing him to have access to the children. Lastly, you may want to consider reaching out to Legal Aide to see if they can assist you in your case.