I want to determine who has custody of my child?

Answer 1

Good question but more info is needed. I can tell you from my own experience, that if a child was conceived/born to unmarried parents,custody has to be extablished. I have a daughter who is almost 15 and I was considered to have custody of her for the majority of her life, only because she lived with me, but legally, I had jack sh!t. She went to visit her father for the weekend and when I went to pick her up he told me I couldn't. He said until you can show me custody papers (which he knew neither one of us had) then she can't go home with you. I went to the police immediately and asked for an escort so I could pick her up and they said since custody was never awarded to either one of us (we've never been to court because we weren't married, we just "broke up") there was nothing they could do. They said he had a right to see her for as long as he wanted and really there wasn't anything they could do if he never wanted her back with me. So, I took the next step, which was going to the court and applying for custody. I couldn't do that without proof of paternity. I told the lady at the clerk's office that no one is contesting paternity and she said it didn't matter. I said his name is on the birth certificate, I say she's his, he says hse's his and she looks identical to him and she said it still didn't matter, only because we weren't married. I told my daughter's father that I was filing for custody (all I wanted was joint) and that in order to do that he needed to take a paternity test first. He said there was no way in hell he was going to take one because he has been taking care of her and loving her all these years and if he found out she wasn't his he would still take care fo her. I felt defeated and what I SHOULD have done was have it court ordered, but I was/am naive to the whole court thing. Because of that, nothing ever happened and about 2 or 3 years ago, I let her go live with him and just recently (a month or two ago) have been served with child support papers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now, he technically doesn't have custody of her either, but since possession is 9/10's of the law, well, she's "his" and I have to pay him to take care of my child who he NEVER paid child support for. I am fighting this but they want to take $640.00 out of my check every month and I know darn well it doesn't cost that much to take care of her. Anyway, I'm trying to get her to come back and live with me, since it's such a financial hardship for him, but I can't do that without custody. So, the moral of all this is, I don't know your situation, but if it's anything like mine was, get your paperwork taken care of immediately. People used to tell me the same thing, go get custody, just to cover y.a., but I didn't because I swore he would never do this to me, let alone that we had both said when we broke up we wouldn't ask the other for child support, that we would both take care of her. One more thing, not sure where you live, but this is the way it works in California. P.S. if anyone knows of a good attorney who happens to be doing pro bono work right now, let me know! I need a lawyer bad and I don't make much money.

Answer 2

you'll have to give more info than that.
did you give up the child for adoption at a young age and the documents are sealed? there are websites that can help with that, their more like a mediator in reuniting parents and child(ren) together, as long as both are looking for each other and consenting to the search of finding and being found by the other.
did you relinquish your rights as the parent? if that's the case you gave up the right to know anything about the child.
are you in the middle of a divorce or already divorced? refer to your divorce decree or contact your current lawyer handling your divorce.
physical custody means the child lives majority with one parent and visits the other during specific time frames and limited days of the month. then there is also joint custody which again would be outlined in any child custody case or divorce decree.
i'm not sure if any of this helped you but you really needed more details in your question to be totally understood what information you were seeking to find.

Answer 3

There is a lot of info missing. If you are talking about parenting choices where is the child living and with whom. If you are talking about support obligations the court will be happy to order child support. And in most other instances it is the court who determines custodial issues when parents are either not married or during a divorce.

Answer 4

Depends on where your child is. If your child lives with you and/or the other parent and you have never commenced, nor been the subject of any court proceedings, then you both do. There needs to be more information here so that a determination can be made. Message me - and depending on what state you are in I may be able to help you further.

Answer 5

Well if you don't know, who does? To many what if's to this question. Can you tell us alittle about the situation? If you are a divorced spouse then it should be in your divorce papers who and what type of custody the child is under.

Answer 6

I'm not trying to be a smart-as*...but were you not there at the court hearing?? If you didn't have a court appearance for custody than both biological or adoptive parents have custody.

Answer 7

You dont know who has custody?Where is the child at?We kinda need a little more info then what wa presented to us.

Answer 8

I need more details. Have you ever been to court to file for custody?

Answer 9

if u are in south carolina the wife gets custody automatically unless u take her to court and prove her unfit

Answer 10

Are you referring to physical custody or legal custody--they can be different.