:mad: -My boyfriend has recently told me that he doesn't have parental rights for his 8 year old little girl. He is currently paying child support and really wants to be able to see his child when he wants and not when his child's mother says its okay. What kinds of rights does he have in this situation?

mishail82,

First he would need to establish paternity of the child, you know DNA. He would have to pay for that test himself. Then petition the court to have the test results entered into the record that he is the legal father of that child. But, something is wrong how or who is collecting child support and stating the he is not the father? That is something that needs to be settled first. Most likely he is identified as the father and/or someone is lying to him. If the child support is directed by city or county like District Atty or someone like that then he needs to contact that office or if just by court order then the court clerk. It would be best to contact an attorney, but contact the court first. In order to have a court order someone had to establish that he is the father.

Whoa. The only reason to establish paternity is if there is a question about it. If he has been paying child support then there doesn't seem to be a question about it.

Did he relinquish his rights? Is the support court ordered or voluntary?

What he probably needs to do is get an attorney and petititon the court for visitation rights. That will establish a schedule of visitation, but that schedule will still be subject to the mother's approval. At least he'll have a schedule.

If he is in fact the biological father of the child ,and has not had his rights terminated or giving them up himself , he has rights.The fact that he is paying child support tells me that he still has his rights.However he has to pursue the courts to get what he wants.Does he have a parenting plan?if not he needs one , he has to petition the courts and present a proposed parenting plan.

The only way he would not have rights is if he gave them away, beyond that he has just not filed in court for visitation rights and other rights, to be established by the court.

Has there been a visitation order issued? If so and the mother's been ignoring it, then he should go back to court and ask the judge to find her in contempt. If not then he should file a motion for visitation and get it explicitly spelled out as to when and where he gets to see his daughter.