I live in Dallas, TX. I have a three year old son. My son's mother and I have been broken up since October 2009 and my son has been back and forth between our houses, but most of the time, he's been with me. She had 3 other children from previous relationships, and recently sent 2 of them back to her hometown (Syracuse, NY) to live with their dads because they were too much for her to handle. She said that she was thinking about moving back to NY, North Carolina, or Virginia, and take my son from me. She left on a plane this morning to go back to Syracuse and said she would be back to pick my son up and take him. We have never been to court to establish legal custody. What rights do I have to ensure that my son will remain in my custody, or at least in the state so that I can still be in his life and be able to interact with him. FYI, she has had CPS called on her twice for and she also has medical conditions where it is recommended that she is under a doctor's care.

You have all the rights that a mother has. You should file for an emergency temporary order giving you custody before your wife can take your child out of the state. Good luck!

*editing: You should file for an emergency temporary order before your child's mother can take him out of state

I'm going to guess that you are on the because so therefore already established as the legal father. If that is correct then you have the same rights as the mother. You really need to get into court ASAP to get emergency custody awarded to you. Once the child leaves the state it will be harder. Do you have money for a lawyer? If so there is still time left today that you can call around to try to find one. I realize that most of them won't have an appointment available today but at least it will be a start. You can also file to get a court date so that is one more thing out of the way. (don't expect the court to give you a scheduled date today but it is something to work on)