I have a 2 1/2 yr old son. The father has never tried to be in contact and has never seen my son. If I was to go for child support and the DNA proves that it is his son, which it will. Will the father then be able to get partial custody if he wanted to?

As the father, he has the right to visitation, and possibly custody as well as the obligation to provide support. This is up to a court to decide. You can point out that he has made no effort to see the child, but if there was a question of paternity, he could possibly defend this.

However, the courts tend to feel that a child has a right to support from both parents, so if you know the father and don't make an effort to get him involved with, and supporting the child, this won't be considered a sign of good parenting on your part.

Did the father know this is his child? Have you made any attempts to involve him in his son's life?

Yes the father has rights. If he decides to enforce his rights he will, in all likelihood, get them. How much he gets may depend on the answers to my questions.

If he has not had any contact and knew this was his son, odds are they will not let him have ( at least at this point) more than normal visits, perhaps every other weekend and one evening a week. But of course if he can show he did not know he was the father ( or did not believe it) and perhaps in a few years even come back, he does have the right to ask for joint custody,

But he has those rights even if you don't file for support,

Hi I am in your same situation except I am getting c/s for my 2 year old.At first I was afraid to because he threatened to go for custody if I sued him for c/s.But, I knew I would need the money as a single mom,and that there is no way I was going to let him get off scotch free and never help take care of the child he helped create.So I went for custody and he paid.We haven't spoken in over a year.He doesn't call ever,send birthday gift,cards,letters nothing.Child support is all I get from him and all I will probably ever get from him.And guess what,it took them about 6 months to get me a hearing so I say file now.You have to remember that deadbeats want you to go off somewhere and not get any money from them.

They don't want to see you,the child or give you any of their money.So don't give him what he wants.If he wasn't interested in seeing your child for 21/2 years then he's probably not interested in seeing your child now.You can always move too,so that way if he ever did want to get visitation he'd have to buy a plane ticket,get hotel and everything else.Just don't be the lady who finds out that her child's father just won the lottery yet her child is 18 already so she can't file.Or in the time that you weren't filing he won the lottery and used all the money.Its happen to people before.p.s the less money you get from him the more he has to save up for a lawyer if he ever did want to take you to court for custody.

People change and fathers who didn't want to deal with an infant often decide they want to be a part of the child's life when they get a little older. Also some fathers fell that if they are paying support they might as well get their money's worth.

And just up and moving is not an easy thing to do. Especially for single mothers who may need a support structure like parents. Please be more realistic in the advice you give.