Custody in regards to military

[psubaby08]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania
Ok my ex-fiancee is presently in the marine corps. He still has 2 years on this contract and is considering re-enlisting. As of right now he is not listed on the birth certificate, acknowledgement of paternity forms nor is there a positive paternity test however he is biologically the father just nothign legal stating it yet. His life down there is very unstable and he can deploy basically whenever they tell him too.

as of right now he has the option to take a job that will take him to afghanistan for the next 2 years. I am tryin to work out an agreement with him out of court agreeing to me having sole physical custody with reasonable visitation during the 2 years he will basically be very infrequently in our daughters life n do not feel safe leaving her with him who basically will be complete stranger to her. He is still threatenin me however that he will take me to court to try and fight for custody to take her to north carolina n put her on a military base i.e. away from her entire famliy (both sides) and be placed into daycare while hes at work 9 hours a day with no other family support down thre (he is solely down there by himself even his entire family lives 15 minutes from my house) as opposed to with her maternal grandmother when I start work in January.

What are his chances of getting custody? If he takes the job to disappear basically for 2 years can I petition for sole physical and legal custody considerin he wont even be realyl reachable in the event of medical emergency or major decisions in next 2 years? Im tryin to keep it out of court but if i have to go i'd likle to know what my chances are....thankyou for any help available.

 

[Rink024]

i can speak from experience on this one, i just separated the military where i served active duty for 4 years and a tour of afghanistan. i have custody of my two children now but only because their mother signed away custody to me. there was no way in hell that the children would have been able to go with me while i was on active duty and such will be the outcome for your case also. he will have absolutely NO chance, the courts do not see military, especially active duty, as a stable environment for children. You can rest easy that the courts will grant YOU custody. to even recieve JOINT physical custody he has to live within a 100 mile radius of you anyways, if he can not do that then there is definately no chance for him to even recieve joint custody, this is the reason why i am out of the military now. and a bonus for you is that his child support will automatically be taken out of his check and sent to you by the government. good luck with your case and rest easy, you are ok on this one.

 

[psubaby08]

thankyou so much. thats what ihad assumed given the unstable nature or the military. and god bless you for serving our country though. just one thing though since ur familiar with this, what about regards to legal custody given if he takes that job on a MEU he i mean im sure as ur aware barelyw ill be reachable in case of emergency or big decision needing to be made...do u think id be able to get sole legal custody also?

 

[Rink024]

yes, i think you will be ok there too, the fact that he lives out of state alone is going to pay a huge role in the decision going your way. i would go for it all hun. i think you will have no problems whatsoever. like i said, i had to actually get out of the military and move to within 100 miles of her just to get joint custody in any form, legal or physical. hang in there and go for it all.

 

[Ohiogal]

yes, i think you will be ok there too, the fact that he lives out of state alone is going to pay a huge role in the decision going your way. i would go for it all hun. i think you will have no problems whatsoever. like i said, i had to actually get out of the military and move to within 100 miles of her just to get joint custody in any form, legal or physical. hang in there and go for it all.

Please quote the proper Pennsylvania statute that states that.

 

[casa]

#1. You already HAVE Sole Legal & Physical Custody as an unwed Mother.

#2. He is not even legally the father at this point & would need to establish Paternity (probably via DNA testing at this point). Then he'd have to fight for visitation...which it sounds like he can't even use. Even if he restations to NC, he'd just have a visitation schedule (probably standard long-distance: rotating or split summers & holidays). If HE moves to NC, he will also likely be responsible for the costs of transportation for the visitation(s). Do you think he has time to do all that, considering what his job situation is like?

#3. Even if he got Joint Legal Custody - since he's deployable & in the Military, you would have NO problem getting an inclusion which states that in the event he cannot be contacted (or that you do not agree) that YOU have final decision making.

#4. Whomever posted about not being able to have Joint Legal Custody when living more than 100 miles apart has no idea what they are talking about.