Need major advice PLEASE!!!!

lilred001

So I'm from Tennesse, 21 yrs old & pregnant.  Me and the babys daddy just broke up.  Hes saying hes not paying child support blah blah blah.  I have nooooo idea what the child custody laws are.  My questions are Do I need to take action now?  What about her last name?  Will they hold it against me in court if she has my last name?  Thank you for any feed back!!! 

keychain01

Hmmmm, first off you shouldn't use babby daddy on here, it bothers a lot of people. But to answer some of your questions, there isn't anything you can do about CS until the baby is born. You aren't married to him right? A few things that aren't legal that you should get into order is, if you guys shared bank accounts (which I doubt you did) get your own. Get a great support system in place and just prepare yourself for the long road ahead of you.

Second question is about the name on the BC. In MD you are not allowed to put a fathers name on the BC if they are not present not sure if TN shares the same laws. If you are worried about trying to collect CS without his name being on the BC you are able to collect if noone is on it.

 Hope that helps, good luck to you and your baby.

kmartinez80

Like keychain said, CS is after the baby is born, but it would be wise to do your research and get the paperwork filed as soon as you can after your baby is born (in most cases, CS will go back to the day you filed, not the day the baby was born).  Regarding the last name, you don't have to put the father's last name and the court will not hold it against you if you put your last name.  Good luck!

FerreraRocher

I would take action by having some consultations with a few lawyers. Next I would talk to your county clerk to find the health and human services branch and find a child support specialist. Once you do that start filling paper work out to get child support. Start looking into the child custody laws in your state. He does have a right but he forfeits that right if he doesn't pay his child support.

sweetie0228

FerreraRocher:

I would take action by having some consultations with a few lawyers. Next I would talk to your county clerk to find the health and human services branch and find a child support specialist. Once you do that start filling paper work out to get child support. Start looking into the child custody laws in your state. He does have a right but he forfeits that right if he doesn't pay his child support.

This is not true.

 

There is no state in the Union that is a pay to play state.  You can't withhold visitation b/c non custodial parent isn't paying CS and you don't automatically get Visitation if you are paying CS.

 

Visitation and CS are 2 different cases, and in some states like mine, they are different courts and different judges.  You can't discuss Visitation issues in CS and court and you can't discuss CS in custody/visitation court.

What is in your advantage is that you aren't married to him therefore the baby is all yours.  He doesn't have rights to a child automatically when the child is born outside of wedlock.  He would have to prove paternity and file for custody/visitation rights.  EVEN if he's paying CS... he would have to carry his happy butt to the court and file for custody/visitation.

FerreraRocher

sweetie0228:

FerreraRocher:

I would take action by having some consultations with a few lawyers. Next I would talk to your county clerk to find the health and human services branch and find a child support specialist. Once you do that start filling paper work out to get child support. Start looking into the child custody laws in your state. He does have a right but he forfeits that right if he doesn't pay his child support.

This is not true.

 

There is no state in the Union that is a pay to play state.  You can't withhold visitation b/c non custodial parent isn't paying CS and you don't automatically get Visitation if you are paying CS.

 

Visitation and CS are 2 different cases, and in some states like mine, they are different courts and different judges.  You can't discuss Visitation issues in CS and court and you can't discuss CS in custody/visitation court.

What is in your advantage is that you aren't married to him therefore the baby is all yours.  He doesn't have rights to a child automatically when the child is born outside of wedlock.  He would have to prove paternity and file for custody/visitation rights.  EVEN if he's paying CS... he would have to carry his happy butt to the court and file for custody/visitation.

 Good point. Sorry for the misleading sentence.

WaterLiIy

keychain01:

Hmmmm, first off you shouldn't use babby daddy on here

She didn't say 'baby daddy'.