I lost the love of my life and my best friend a week ago in a terrible accident. I am 3 months pregnant with our first child. We were engaged since Christmas Eve 2006.

We knew that eventually he would have to establish Paternity on the baby since we weren't married. He signed papers for Social Services acknowlaging that the baby was his when I was 7 weeks along. Everything was going great for us until he was taken away from me. So, in having to deal with his loss and his last wishes and not really being able to take part in any decisions because we weren't married, another problem has arisen.

The baby would have been his next of kin had this happened after the baby was born. However, since he obviously can't establish Paternity now, the baby gets nothing. We were in the works of getting a trust fund for the baby and he was constantly worrying about what if he couldn't support the baby. The coroner advised me that I would need a court order to obtain a DNA sample in order for him to be recognized as the baby's father. It meant everything to him that he be listed on the Birth Certifacate and we were advised that we could not do that without establishing Paternity. So now, it is my goal to make sure our child takes his name and that he is on the Birth Certifacate and the baby gets everything that he or she is entitled to as my fiancee's child.

This was a planned pregnancy and I think that it is so unfair that my baby is entitled to nothing of his or her father's. He didn't want it that way. Taking care of our baby was his main drive these last few months.

I'm not sure how to go about taking care of this issue. I contacted family court and was advised that it is not their department. The coroner told me that in his 10 years of being the County coroner, this issue has never been dealt with and he really had no advice for me.

I'm overwhelmed as it is but I was told this issue needs to be dealt with in the next few weeks before the window of opportunity closes. I want my baby to be recognized legally as my fiancee's child. Is there anyone that can help me?

You file in probate court for your child to be a hier in that estate, you get a court order from that court for a DNA test if anyone contests it in probate court..

** this is a reason of course to have a will, if he had one, he would have left you everything. But hiring an attorney is a must, and filing in probate for the share of the estate.

I will consult my attorney first thing tomorrow morning. As far as a will goes, he was 30 years old... he was supposed to live for another 40 years. Nobody thinks at that age that you need a will. But thanks for the information, now I kind of know where I have to start. It certainly helps.

I am sorry for your loss, yes, sadly in this world we have no guarantee of tomorrow, if we are 18 or if we are 80, we are not really promised another day. That is why living for today and today's life is so important.

I sincerely appreciate your help in this matter. I had a consultation with a private attorney who is going to work with me since I am in a fix financially. He also advised me that I could file a wrongful death suit and that my baby will be entitled to 100% of the reward. He feels as though the case is a good one and there should be no problems in suing the other party involved. As for the paternity, he is taking care of that immediately. So again, I would like to thank you for your great advice.

I have no advise on the matter because I have dealt with no similar situations although I just wanted to say I'm sorry for your loss and I hope everything goes well.

I'm with rondom1 I'm so sorry and hopefully everything works out OK. Good luck!

rondom1 and calover16m: Thank you so much, I appreciate the kind words. :-)