I'm writing on behalf of my aunt. This post is concerning her ex-boyfriend, (we will call him Joe for privacy's sake).

He has been living with my aunt, her now 17 year old daughter and an 8 year old son who he fathered for the last 10 years. My aunt and her children finally moved out without telling him last month. Joe is now living on a friends couch and is very depressed and angry.

Backstory: Joe lost his job shortly after his and my aunt's son was born about 8 years ago and since then he hasn't once helped with rent, or any bills or expenses for his son (we'll call him Mark). He's also a struggling alcoholic and has recently relapsed.

My question is what rights does he have to Mark? His name is on the birth certificate and DNA was never contested. Joe makes a lot of threats towards my aunt and I'd like to put her mind at ease. My aunt would like Joe to have scheduled supervised visitation as frequently as Joe wants. Her intention is not to "take away" his son as Mark has lived with Joe his whole life. Her intention is to have full custody because of Joe's emotional instability.

What should she do?

She should go to court to establish custody and visitation. She will need to point out Joe's alcoholism and lack of permanent abode to try and get supervised visitation.

But Joe has the same rights as any father. Without a custody order, he can just take Mark to where he lives. Whether your aunt can get supervised visitation depends on whether she can convince a court that he should be alone with Mark.

The sooner she can get a judge to order custody the better. If she can afford a lawyer that would help. But she does need to make the judge aware of the fathers problems with alcohol and request supervised visits. The rest is up to the judge. Good luck to her!