[kay_bran2011]

Hi. My fiancé has two kids with his wife. Well the are separated and getting divorced. But I wanted to know something. His wife left him on his son's first birthday. She took off and he hasn't seen his kids for a year until three weeks ago. She said that the kids could come to his house for a month then he could bring them back then they would go from there. Then she texted us about him getting the kids and she said the only one she would let him take is the oldest one who is 4 because she said he had no rights to her because she was born before they got married. Is that true? Does he have rights? I think he should because they got married and his name is on the birth certificate.

[cdad]

Post moved to its own thread.

[AK lawyer]

... she said he had no rights to her because she was born before they got married. is that true? does he have rights? i think he should because they got married and his name is on the birth certificate.

Absent a court order specifying or limiting parental rights, both parents share full rights to custody of their children. If the child was born before the parents married, that would simply affect how he would prove his status as a father of the child. But if he is on the birth certificate, presumably he has executed an affidavit of paternity, and she has acceded to that assertion.

So yes, he has as much right to custody of the child as the mother has.

[Fr_Chuck]

He has the right to go to court and file and get a court ordered custody. It will spell out the required days and times for all visits