What are "mother's rights?" As the mother of your child, you have important rights to your child that co-exist with the rights of his or her father. Ultimately, when seeking to balance your respective parenting rights, the court will consider what is best for your child when making determinations regarding custody, visitation and child support.
Located in Dayton, Ohio, the Hartley Law Office represents clients throughout Montgomery County in a variety of divorce and family law matters. Contact our Dayton mother's rights lawyer today. Our goal is to protect the rights you have regarding parenting of your children.
Greenville Custody Dispute Lawyer
If you are not married to the father of your child, and your child was born outside of marriage, you automatically have legal custody of your child until a court issues a binding order that says otherwise. In order for the father of your child to establish paternal rights, which can include shared child custody or visitation, he must establish paternity.
Likewise, you must establish paternity in order to receive child support. If you are or were married, paternity is not an issue until conflicting DNA evidence is offered by your (ex-)husband or the actual biological father of your child.
A common myth is that fathers who do not pay child support cannot visit their children — this is not the case. The father of your child has parental rights of his own that are not affected by his ability to pay child support. One of the worst things you can do to harm your own custodial rights is to deny your child's father the opportunity to develop a relationship with his children.
Another myth is that mother's rights have precedence over father's rights. The truth is that once your child's father has established paternity, your rights are equal under Ohio law.
Ohio Shared Parenting Agreement Attorney
To schedule your free initial consultation with attorney Aaron P. Hartley, call 937-312-9130 or contact our Greenville custody dispute attorney online today. We also have weekend and evening hours by appointment.
