fathers rights?

upinthesky

what rights has a father to there child that has lived with him for the past 4 years with out the mother but is not on the birth cert? the child is 8

the mother is claiming opf and using his address but lives with her fiance he has done nothing about this because he is terrified she will take him

now he wants to put a stop to it any suggestions on how he could go about it?

she did get the guard's to take him one time but brought him back the next day as the child wont stay for more then a day and she only see's him about once every 3 weeks

projectvv

as you are not married to the mother, you need to go to the district Court and make an application for guardianship. this will give you the right to make any legal decisions about the child. You can then apply for sole custody with her having access to the child as it seems you already have sole custody in reality with her only having few hours a week. you should then be entitled to the lone parent and not her as the child is living with you.

Delancey

Might the mother be guilty of an offence by claiming One Parent Family payments in this case where the child does not live with her ?

projectvv

absolutely she is not entitled to claim this. it is only for the parent whom the child is living with, which in this case is the father

upinthesky

yhank you for all your replys

yes this is the problem he told her not to use his address anymore and she kicked up a fuss he is terrified of his child taking away

she has been using his address for the past four years to claim the payment he said nothing just for an easy life

if he reported her where does he stand can she just take the child which she would just to get back at him KWIM

would the first step be to get joint guardianship then she cant really take him for good? just looking for some advise its an unusual situation

projectvv

yes, the first thing to do is to appy to be a guardian, the mother is an automatic guardian, he is not because he isnt married to her, and so needs to make this application first in the district court. After that when is made a guardian, he should apply for sole custody as he has the child full time. (usually the mother has sole custody and the fathers have some week end access) in this case he will have proof from the child's school, doctor etc etc that the child is with him full time. She will be notified he is applying for sole custody and can have a chance to challenge this, but seems she doesnt want the child full time and if it can be proved child been living with him past 4 years then i think he would be successful. The most she would get then would be access rights and based on what you say, she only sees kid once every three weeks that seems all she wants. If she tries to run off with the kid he can nab her for child abduction once he has paper to say he a guardian. the child cannot get a passport unless both guardians sign infront of Garda so she cant take kid out of country at least.

bartosh

hi
if i am not married to the mother of my child can i take her to the solicitor and ask her to sign in front of him the document that will state that i am a legal father of her child? will it then prove that i am a legal guardian with all rights?