well if your boyfriend signed an AOP already I'm not sure how that will all work. i wasn't in that situation. would the court even do a a paternity test? here they only issued the paternity test because there was no AOP, and no father listed on the birth certificate. so, i'm no help.... sorry!
If he wants to challenge paternity, he will need to file. In the filing he can require you to take a DNA test. If the DNA test that is part of the paternity filing comes back positive, then your ex will be named the legal father of your child and your boyfriend will be stripped of paternal rights.
Your ex, should he prove to be the child's father, would be given paternal rights. In some states, if no other custody order is put into place, you and the father would have exactly equal rights to the child. In other states, a father must petition for custody to get any type of custodial rights. It depends on your state.
If you're in the latter type of state, it is likely that a filing for custody would have accompanied the original petition for paternity. The judge will probably order you both to go to mediation to try to work out a custody order in the even that the ex proves to be the father of the child. If you agree in mediation, the judge will likely sign the mediated order. Otherwise, you would go back to court and the judge would give you a custody order.
In the state of Ohio a father of a child who is not married to the mother has no rights until he files for them. My ex had an affair & a baby with another woman & because they were not married he has no rights for vistation. Child support & visitation do not go hand in hand (just because he is paying doesn't mean he has the right to see his child & just because he isn't doesn't mean you have the right to withhold visitation).
You can ask the local support agency to do a paternity test when you file for child support. The if it is his he will have to pay support but if he wants visitation he has to go through the courts to file for his rights. And from my understanding once he files, then the only way he can get out of it is if there is someone else willing to take over those rights (i.e. if you marry someone else & that man wants to adopt your child)- & then he would be relieved of support obligations as well.
I'm sorry- my advice wasn't right- I didn't read the whole post. Whoops! But all the advice I gave is from personal experience. Also- my oldest (16yo DS) has a dad who is not listed on the birth certificate so he has no rights. When my ex & I got married it was brought up that my ex adopt my DS but I didn't want that to happen because I wanted to leave that door open (for my DS's father to have a relationship with him) but that never happened (he lives in Kansas & we live in Ohio) because he claims he didn't want to "confuse the kid" by being in his life (as if having 2 men who loved him enough to call him "son" was going to confuse him).
prayers for all involved..
- Bryntayk16
on Aug. 25, 2012 at 4:47 PM