I Live in California and want to have a baby with my best friend but I do not want child support from him or any monetary support. He is afraid that he will be forced to pay child support. Can I legally sign off the rights to any financial support?

You can legally sign of any rights to financial support.

If your question is can you PERMANENTLY waive child support, the answer is no. The father cannot waive his rights; the mother cannot waive hers; the child's rights cannot be waived. There is always the possibility that the mother will file for child support, including college expenses, against the father.

Of course, the mother can simply not file for support or, if it is ordered, refuse to accept it but nothing is permanent.

I know of no law to the contrary.

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Originally Posted by MsUSC

I Live in California and want to have a baby with my best friend but I do not want child support from him or any monetary support. He is afraid that he will be forced to pay child support. Can I legally sign off the rights to any financial support?

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No, but of course you don't have to ask for support and it will always be up to you to ask for it. So in other words, he's going to have to trust you on that one! Also, be mindful that if you go public assistance you then sign over your rights to support to the welfare agency which in turn goes to the non-custodial parent for reimbursement at the guideline child support amount (which they are entitled to even if what they pay out is less than the amount of the welfare benefits you get)--you can't stop them from doing that. I don't see any way of assuring the to-be dad that he'll never have to worry about support short of a step-parent adoption that would take him out of the picture or what we call a "second parent" adoption, meaning someone else adopting in place of a person you might be married to (assuming you are unmarried). Second parent adoptions are fairly unusual but a theoretical possibility.

But the "father" has to take a risk that in 10 years the mother could change her mind

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Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

But the "father" has to take a risk that in 10 years the mother could change her mind

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- or at any age until majority.

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Originally Posted by tickle

You can legally sign of any rights to financial support.

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This must be the case in Canada; it is not the law in the US - and, of course, I do not know where OP is.

Couple things.

To make decisions NOW that will effect YOU and your BABY for the next 21 years, isn't a good idea. As you've heard, you can't do it anyway...

Besides, what happens if you find yourself living from hand to mouth in the future, while the father of your child strikes it rich. He IS the father. Shouldn't HE have to share in the costs of childrearing? Even if YOU don't think so, what about your child?? Isn't he/she entitled to a vote? Maybe they don't want to live poorly. Why would you resign THEM to live that kind of life?

Which brings up another point... I'll bet the other half of the agreement that you're NOT talking about, has to do with custody and visitation with the father. I'll bet in exchange for his foregoing child support, you're trying to elicit a no visitation order from him...

You can't make an agreement like that, either. Because, maybe the Father might want to take part in his child's life. You're not going to be able to stop him.

excon