My son 22 and his girlfriend 21 just had a baby girl. He lives with us and she lives with her parents. She is by polar and my son has emotional problems. She told us today that she put her last name as the babies name instead of my sons, but that she put him down as the father. We live in Michigan, Can she do this? She is on Welfare and so is my son. He is in the process of applying for social security. Can my son force the babies name chance to his legally? :(

Yes she can do that, but as the father he can take it to court and have the name changed but there is no guarantee it will get changed.

How do you go about seeking joint custody and visitation? What kind of legal documentation will we need?

The father may try in court, but it is not a for sure. What he does need to do is be sure his name is on it, ( get a copy of the birth certificate)

He will have to file for custody and/or visitation. Then child support will be set up for him to pay.

You file a petititon in your local family court. If you are listed on the birth certificate that's your documentation. If not, you request the cort order a paternity test.

Please don't start multiple threads for the same issue. I've merged your threads for you. Any follow-up should be posted as a reply to this thread.

I thank you all for your answers. I don't know if any of them will help, but I sure know where to start. Becoming a new grandmother is great but unfortunely there is a lot of baggage connected to her mother. Thank you for your help.