My fiancee' s child's mother took his child away claiming that she has custody but we haven't seen any papers, what does he have to do to see his child?

08_777444

Have you tried contacting the court where the custody papers were drawn up?

msbrown21

I don't even know if there are real papers, can a mother file for custody without the father's knowledge?

bEaUtIfUlbRuNeTtE

No.

Unless she can prove somehow that he is unfit for the child.

How does he pay support? Isn't that court ordered?

msbrown21

The support comes automatically out his checks. If she did have custody, should he some type of document stating all that information?

bEaUtIfUlbRuNeTtE

I don't know if child support and custody fall under the same document.

msbrown21

Well right now she won't let him see his child...what can he do so that he can see him

bEaUtIfUlbRuNeTtE

Unless documented that she has sole custody then she can't take his custody rights away.

ScottGem

Your fiancee doesn't sound like the brightest bulb in the pack, no offense. He has child support payments being automatically deducted from his pay and he has no idea what his custody or visitation rights are?

To have the support directly deducted, the mother had to go to court to have child support set. Didn't your fiancee attend those court hearings? Didn't he pay attention?

Bottomline here is he has to go the Family Court in your area and either get the transcript of the hearing where support was ordered or file a petition to get joint custody and visitation rights. And I would strongly suggest that he hire an attorney to do this for him. Obviously he didn't do too well on his own.

wnk_1001

Your fiancee should have paperwork regarding the child support. On that paperwork should be a case number and what county has jurisdiction over the matter. If he doesn't have any paperwork, that could pose a problem. If the child's mother filed for child support, she obviously had your fiancee's address and/or knew where he worked. She obviously got a decision from some court somewhere to garnish his wages. If for some reason your fiancee does not have any paperwork on that, and did not receive notice to appear at the hearing for child support, which would be odd, he could always ask his employer to inform him what county takes the money out of his check. Then he should go to that county and search for a custody order.

As for custody, it looks like you might be on a wild goose chase. If it were my child, I would go to every court building in every county where the child's mother ever lived. If she does in fact have sole custody, she most likely was able to obtain it because he has not been in the child's life. However, if she knew where he was living, or where he was working, he should have at the least received a notice to appear for a hearing. I would suggest having your fiance hire an attorney and file a motion in the county he resides in, requesting visitation, that is if he has his child's address.

Whether or not she has full custody or joint custody should not matter, as he now has a desire to see the child, and unless your fiancee is proved to be an unfit individual to have visitation with his child, the custody papers can be modified at any time.

I suspect the child's mother does not want him around his child. That could be a totally separate issue in itself.