Adolescent doesn't want to speak to father on phone. Does she have to?

[VGJOla]

Was your child conceived before or after you were married? Was she born after you married?

She was conceived during our marriage. He is named on the birth certificate, but he didn't sign it because he was not in the country at the time of her birth. I guess in those days he didn't have to sign, or maybe it was because we were married.

 

[Just Blue]

She was conceived during our marriage. He is named on the birth certificate, but he didn't sign it because he was not in the country at the time of her birth. I guess in those days he didn't have to sign, or maybe it was because we were married.

He is the legal father...your child is a product of the marriage. Paternity is presumed during a marriage.

 

[LdiJ]

She was conceived during our marriage. He is named on the birth certificate, but he didn't sign it because he was not in the country at the time of her birth. I guess in those days he didn't have to sign, or maybe it was because we were married.

It was because you were married. A child born during a marriage is automatically the legal child of both married persons.

I am rather amazed that you were able to divorce without addressing child custody and parenting time.

 

[Just Blue]

It was because you were married. A child born during a marriage is automatically the legal child of both married persons.

I am rather amazed that you were able to divorce without addressing child custody and parenting time.

post 17.

 

[VGJOla]

It was because you were married. A child born during a marriage is automatically the legal child of both married persons.

I am rather amazed that you were able to divorce without addressing child custody and parenting time.

I filed the divorce without a lawyer. If you are not dividing property or deciding custody issues, you can file without a lawyer where I'm from and pay only the filing fees and court costs totaling around $250. They even offer a free clinic to help you complete the forms. This would only be for an uncontested divorce, of course. I had to wait about 3 years before he would not contest.

Even when I consulted a lawyer, he quoted one price for a straight forward, uncontested divorce (minimum costs assuming there were no changes or surprises during the process - about 10x what I paid to do it myself.) and another price if we wanted to have a custody agreement. He said without one, the status quo would remain until one or the other parties was no longer happy with it and filed for custody. I can't remember his exact words, but I understood that without a decree stating otherwise, whoever had primary physical custody basically had full custody with the understanding that if you didn't want your arrangements to change, you should cooperate with the non-custodial parent. This only applied to physical custody. Legal custody is 50/50. I couldn't have gotten a better custody arrangement than the one I had, at least from my perspective, so I left well enough alone.

I could have requested child support at any time, but something told me I may one day need to say he had never contributed a cent. It was probably a matter of pride on my part as well. Also, as I discovered about the time we stopped pretending to make the marriage work, he had children in his home country and they needed his money more than my child did.