Would a father on the birth certificate get 50-50 access to a child if the parents never married?

[Whatsmyusername94]

wondering if a father on the birth certificate gets exactly the same rights as the mother even if they were never married? Could a father have 50/50 access by law granted there is no serious reason he can’t have them?

Well she is hardly acting like a grown woman is she? She is acting like a controlling brat!

Thank you for this

Circumstances do matter

newborns need to be with their primary caregiver, normally the mother, most of the time . Fathers need frequent short visits at that stage. As the child ages that schedule can change.

a father who is inconsistent with his parenting responsibility should not necessarily have a large amount of time assigned. This could mean was he absent from the child’s life previously? Does he fail to turn up for transfers on time consistently? Does he ever cancel his parenting time?

a responsible father who puts his child first should absolutely be a large part of his child’s life. It’s in the best interest of the child and it allows the mother to work and have a personal life.

the problem with these threads, and this may have nothing to do with this particular case, is that most of the time it turns out these father’s do not understand child development. It turns out these fathers want to parent when it is convenient, but not consistently.

so it’s hard not to be a bit skeptical when replying.

I assume he has made an effort to reinstate contact and is currently going through that process?

All the advice posted on this thread is easily found with a google search, so he presumably is aware of his rights, responsibilities, and the process as a whole. I’m which case starting a thread without his knowledge asking a very basic question probably isn’t going to help that much.

I am allowed to ask a question am I not?
online information is sometimes conflicting and you get various articles of different information so I was seeking someone’s knowledge on here. I have been given some useful information because I asked. Replying to this thread with useless answer didn’t help that much either.

Well then you are naive.

@Whatsmyusername94 "Men really can’t win."

There are many excellent, loving and consistent fathers about. But this man did not immediately go to court when the mother of his child denied access for a reason that would certainly not be upheld. This is a red flag, and you need to protect yourself. Just in case.

Your other thread suggests you are rather vulnerable OP. I'd focus on improving your own life for the sake of your two DC rather than taking on someone else's problems, where you likely have a heavily manipulated one half of the story.

Yes you are right there thank you

If the dad was having 50/50 then the mum stopped if for silly reasons, then he would get the 50/50 reinstated or very close to it, if it had been working well for everyone.

But if he was having the child say EOW for example and the mum stopped him for a silly reason, then he would not automatically get 50/50 because he’d be doing it for a petty reason to get back at the mum and not because of the child’s best interests, which the court will see.

So the amount of contact would depend on what the contact was like before this happened.

When did this happen OP?

I understand you’re trying to stay unbiased but it would probably be more helpful if you have more information and explained the situation in full, so we can give better advice.

How long have you been together?
How long have they been separated?
Waa this the first time he was late?
Was he having 50/50 before this?
How old is the child?

In my job I have seen many cases where if you took the (usually) father's version of the story at face value you would feel he was being very wronged...until you know the full details.

The only way to address this if informal mediation cannot be achieved, is via the court process. They will likely ask the local authority to complete an assessment/a court report and the children's wishes and views, if old enough to state them, will be very important.

The birth certificate is largely irrelevant and is often a red flag in itself "but I am on the birth certificate, I have RIGHTS".

As other posters have said, if this is true, no court is going to uphold a woman's decision to withdraw contact because of being 10 minutes late once. However, more likely, this is the tip of the iceberg.

The big question is if he really wants access why hasn't he taken steps to challenge it, if the reason he's giving is so trivial?

He could seek to pursue it if it really mattered to him.

If he hasn't, because he can't be arsed to find out how, he's not a good bloke. He's, at best, a lazy bloke.

It could be about controlling behaviour and deliberately going out of his way to inconvenience the mother for something important/crucial. In which case it's not just 10 mins. It's emotional abuse.

Be careful what you are told here.

There's no excuse for a man who is unable to find out all this stuff himself. If he's telling you porkies be aware of it.

My ex told his new girlfriend I stopped contact when he couldn't see dd as he was moving house. She made it her mission to help him get custody and deal with his crazy ex.

He forgot to tell her that he was only ever allowed contact centre contact due to his violence, that he only attended 3 times then never turned up. Until 8 years later when he turned up at my house and tried to force his way in, was arrested, then he sent a letter via his solicitor claiming to have not seen DD due to moving house and wanting shared custody. I ignored it and hear nothing for 5 years until his new girlfriend started meddling.

There's always more to these tales of woe.

Exactly this.

OP, I’d step aside and let the father (your boyfriend?) navigate his own custody battle.

If he is unable / unwilling to even start the process of court proceedings due to his DCs mother stopping contact, without your input, then I’d suggest there’s possibly more to the story of why he isn’t having contact.

From experience - an arrest, an injunction and ongoing harassment.