• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

NC: Child custody, unmarried parents

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

PQN

Member
NORTH CAROLINA

An unmarried couple has a baby. Dad signs the AOP. Parents bring baby home from the hospital and live together for a year. No court orders. In NC one of the states where mom has sole custody in this type of situation?

All my google searches turn up child support info and UCCJEA links but I can't find the link to the law that shows who has default custody.

(I am trying to convince a friend to see an attorney BEFORE he just up and leaves with the baby but he insists that his living with the baby established his custodial rights. He'd believe the actual law but I can't find it! He won't come here because he is so sure that being the baby's dad means he has equal custody to the mom, even though they never married.)
 


breezymom

Member
First, I found this: http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bysection/chapter_49/gs_49-15.html

§ 49‑15. Custody and support of illegitimate children when paternity established.
Upon and after the establishment of paternity of an illegitimate child pursuant to G.S. 49‑14, the rights, duties, and obligations of the mother and the father so established, with regard to support and custody of the child, shall be the same, and may be determined and enforced in the same manner, as if the child were the legitimate child of such father and mother. When paternity has been established, the father becomes responsible for medical expenses incident to the pregnancy and the birth of the child. (1967, c. 993, s. 1.)
...and the following:

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bysection/chapter_50/gs_50-13.2.html

Neither of which are really all that clear. I believe the first states the answer for what you are looking, which is that both parents have the same rights to the child, as if they had been married, once paternity has been established. And if this means AoP being signed, then they have equal rights, but I wonder if it would mean only once a paternity test has been ordered and done through the court system. I am sure someone can answer that.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top