I am in the early stages of pregnancy, and due to many issues (none of them violent) my significant other has left me.

He has threatened to take me to court to get custody of my baby. I need to know if there is any way he can get custody, or establish paternity.

Here are the facts that I hope will help:
-we were never married
-we did live together for one year, but my address was never legally changed

Thank you in advance. I do understand that this is not "legal" advice.

Of course your address legally changed, you merely did not notify anyone that you moved. You established residence when you moved and lived there

There is really nothing you can do until the child is born, then you may request DNA test, ask for custody of the child.

The fact you were never married has no bearing except that now he will have to prove he is the father thouh DNA

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Originally Posted by [email protected]

I am in the early stages of pregnancy, and due to many issues (none of them violent) my significant other has left me.

He has threatened to take me to court to get custody of my baby. I need to know if there is any way he can get custody, or establish paternity.

Here are the facts that I hope will help:
-we were never married
-we did live together for one year, but my address was never legally changed

Thank you in advance. I do understand that this is not "legal" advice.

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If he takes you to court after the child is born, he will most likely have to take a DNA test in order to establish paternity. Once it is determined that the child is his, he will most likely be awarded some type of visitation and most likely joint custody.

And as Fr_Chuck pointed out, not being married doesn't affect anything; it just means that the DNA test will have to be done after the birth to establish him as the legal father of the child.

From what you've asked, it almost sounds as if you're trying to avoid having him as part of the child's life - if I'm wrong, then I apologize. Is that what the scenario is? Just because you weren't married and didn't notify anyone of your address change doesn't mean you are allowed to deny him his own child.

He can (and should) establish paternity if in fact he is the father of this child. This can be done in one of two ways ; either by him signing an affidavit of paternity or through a DNA test. Now as far as him getting custody is concerned, he can certainly attempt it. However, unless there are very compelling reasons, no judge will give him sole custody. Joint custody perhaps, but not sole. The more the two of you can agree on between yourselves, the easier it'll be on everyone.

First, It is not a good idea to use your e-mail address as a screen name. This is a public forum. I would suggest you start a new account with a more anonymous name. You can use the Report Inappropriate Post link to ask that the responses be moved to a new thread.

Second, the fact that you were never married and never changed your legal address has no bearing here.

As others have noted, if he takes you to court and he is the father, then he will get some level of custody and visitation. Its unlikely he will be able to get primary physical custody. But if you try to hide the baby from him, it will not make the court look favorably on you.