[salinasbates201]

OK thank you! I'm trying to get some info so my sister nor I get in trouble. And the baby belongs to my sister and her boyfriend and they are staying at the boyfriends parents house.

[mammaju2]

Sorry I'm new to this but I went to see a lawyer and no in Missouri an until paternity is estab.. the unwed father cannot take a baby away from the mother.. He has to get visitation rights.. Since this father is on felony probation I shouldn't have problem getting full custody.. I don't want child support.. Just peace..

[ScottGem]

sorry I'm new to this but I went to see a lawyer and no in Missouri an until paternity is estab.. the unwed father cannot take a baby away from the mother.. He has to get visitation rights..

While that is true, it doesn't apply to the OP in this case. You don't know if paternity has been established, you don't know where they live (at least not initially) And the mother was living with the boyfriend so there wasn't an issue of taking the child from the mother. And that's the problem. You were giving advice based on your circumstances without knowing whether they applied to the questioner.

[AK lawyer]

Mammaju originally said this:
"IM NOT A LAWYER..but if she isnt married...He can't stop her from taking her child..I went threw same thing in Missouri soo many years ago...And thats what my lawyer told me...Good luck.."

I didn't see anything in Missouri statutes which would substantiate this statement. Then ScottGem said this:

Umm what about this:

However, this affidavit does not grant him custody, visitation or child support rights. For those rights, he must file a paternity suit that grants him the right to petition for custody of his child.

So, the long and the short of it is

• the "general rule" as I understand it is that, absent a court order, a birth-certificate-father can get away with not allowing the child's mother to go away with the child.
• Mamma says that some Missouri lawyer advised her, years ago, something that may or may not be in conflict with that general statement.
• I didn't see anything that specifically supports the unidentified Missouri lawyer's dictum ("He can't stop her from taking her child").
• You apparently are quoting something ("affidavit does not grant him custody, ... rights"), but I fail to see how that contradicts with what I am saying.

"Possession (for want of a more appropriate term) is 9/10 of the law", as the old saying goes. He, being the father, can keep the child until a court of law says otherwise. Mom's "rights" don't trump Dad's "rights", and neither you nor Momma have cited anything to contradict that statement.

We're talking apples and oranges here. OP posed the situation where the parents were living together and the mom wants to take the bably and leave. Momma is talking about a different fact pattern: father going to mother (already living separately, I suspect) and claiming a "right" to take the child from her.

The mother can take the baby, but if the father says "no, I won't allow it", they can't get into a wrestling match over it and the police won't intervene (absent a breach of the peace). So if, for example, he holds the baby in his arms, Mom can't pull the baby out of his arms. But if he sets the baby down, Mom can grab the baby and leave - and then Dad can't stop her. There is a fine line here.