If you are an unmarried father and are separated from your child's mother, you may be concerned about securing a relationship with your child. It's especially important for unmarried fathers to know what their rights are, and how best to protect them.
Significance
All other factors being equal, as a father you have just as many legal parental rights as your child's mother, whether or not the two of you ever married. In fact, according to Child Welfare Information Gateway, the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed that your rights as an unwed father are constitutionally protected, provided that you have a substantial relationship with your child. "Substantial" in this case means that you are, in fact, the child's biological father, and that you have committed yourself to help raise him.
Paternity
According to FindLaw, children born into a marriage are presumed to be the husband's under the law. If the parents of a child never married, there is no such presumption, and the child has no legal father. This means that, as an unwed father, the courts will give you no rights and no deference unless you have been legally declared your child's father, whether through voluntary acknowledgment or through a court order.
The Child Welfare Information Gateway notes that most states have a process for voluntary acknowledgment of paternity. Typically, you and your child's mother will have to sign a sworn affidavit and file it through the courts. Some states will not allow a father's name to appear on child's birth certificate without this affidavit. If your child's mother disputes your paternity claim, paternity acknowledgment can be ordered through the court. You will likely have to take a paternity test to determine whether or not you are the child's father.
Custody and Visitation
Once it has been legally established that you are your child's father, you have the same rights as a divorced father. You can file for legal custody, physical custody or visitation, and you have the benefit of legal recourse if your ex-partner violates a custody agreement. You also have the right to receive notifications of court proceedings that involve your child, including termination of parental rights and and adoption petitions.
Obligations
With parental rights come responsibilities. If you are legally declared the father of a child, you will be financially obligated to support her until she turns 18. If you obtain primary physical custody, you will have to provide her basic needs, although you will be entitled to receive child support payments from her mother. If you have visitation or partial custody, you will be expected to pay child support. The amount of this support will be determined by your income--or sometimes even your potential income--and the amount of visitation you receive.
Caution
Even if you are on good terms with the mother of your child, it is very important to arrange everything--from paternity acknowledgment to custody to child support agreements--through the courts. Otherwise, you may forfeit the benefit of legal recourse if disagreements arise.
