Father’s Rights and Paternity

A Columbus Ohio Attorney who represents Unmarried Parents – Mothers or Fathers – article about the rights of unmarried parents in Oho.

In Ohio, when a child is born to parents who are not married, the mother has sole custody of the child. The father has no right to see the child at all until he goes to court to obtain those rights. See the father’s rights section of this website, under Answers to Your Questions.

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When a couple who is not married splits up, they often struggle about when or if the father is going to see the child. Emotional issues get in the way, and power struggles result, placing the child squarely in the middle. Many times, fathers try to avoid going to court to get court ordered time with their child because of the cost involved, or because they are afraid they will formally have to start paying child support.

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Here’s the thing – fathers of children who were not married in Ohio have no rights UNTIL THEY GO GET THEM. So, bottom line, there is nothing for it but through it. Often, once parenting orders are in place, relations between the parents become less difficult because boundaries are established and there is no need for a contstant power struggle. So mothers and fathers alike need to ask themselves this question: Are we going to do this now, while we can reasonably get along, or later, after years of arguments because there are no guidelines and boundaries regarding when each parent will see the child? The longer you wait, the more difficult it may become.

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Court does not have to be a battle. Parents can set court orders by agreement. If the parents need help preparing an agreement, one or both can hire an attorney (each attorney can only represent one parent). If parents need help reaching agreement, they can utilize counseling, mediation, even friends and family members to help them talk things out. The important thing is not to delay dealing with the issue, allowing hostility to increase.

CALL NOW at (614) 225-9316 or contact us by e-mail.

Parents who were never married may also be interested in the following pages on our website:

For more information about UNMARRIED PARENTS IN OHIO, see our page regarding UNMARRIED PARENTS.

For more information about FATHER’S RIGHTS, see our page regarding FATHER’S RIGHTS IN OHIO.

For more information about MOTHER’S RIGHTS, see our page regarding MOTHER’S RIGHTS IN OHIO.

For more information about GRANDPARENT RIGHTS see our page regarding GRANDPARENTS RIGHTS IN OHIO.

For more information about obtaining CUSTODY, SHARED PARENTING, OR VISITATION in Ohio, see our post about OHIO CUSTODY.

For more information about DNA testing, see our post regarding DNA TESTING.

For more information about SHARED PARENTING, see our post regarding SHARED PARENTING IN OHIO.

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DISCLAIMER

A Columbus Family Law Attorney article about signing away your rights to your child.

In Ohio, usually when people ask this question, what they mean is – if I agree not to be a part of my child’s life will I have to pay child support? In Ohio, visitation, or parenting time, is a privilege, not a right. Support, on the other hand, is an obligation. Both visitation and child support are modifiable until the child reaches majority, or until the parent’s rights are terminated by either an adoption or a children’s services type of proceeding terminating parental rights. Another way of putting it is this – if a person wants to walk away from their child, a court may agree that it is in the child’s best interest not to have contact with that parent, but that does not relieve the parent from the obligation to support their child. Nothing but a termination of parental rights via adoption or children’s services case will eliminate the possibility that a zero child support order may be modified in the future.

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Until recently, Ohio courts generally held that child support was not modifiable retroactively. In some situations where a parent has failed to pay child support for years and had an enormous child support arrearage, the parent with the child support arrearage sometimes would offer to “sign away their rights” if the custodial parent would agree to “get rid of” the child support arrearage. Sometimes this offer was attractive to the custodial parent, but Ohio courts maintained that the Ohio Revised Code does not allow retroactive modification of child support. On December 11, 2008, the Ohio Supreme Court, in the case Byrd v. Knuckles, decided that a court MAY, but is NOT REQUIRED TO, accept an agreement of the parents to terminate a child support arrearage. To learn more about the Byrd v. Knuckles case and retroactive modification of child support, click here.