I’m currently dealing with a situation that’s causing me a lot of stress and confusion. My ex-boyfriend, who is the father of my unborn child, is insisting that he can sign away his parental rights to avoid paying child support. He believes that by doing so, he won’t have any financial obligations towards the child. I’m having a hard time believing that this is actually possible.
I’m in Wisconsin, and I want to make sure that he can’t simply walk away from his financial responsibilities. From what I understand, parental rights and child support obligations are separate issues, but my ex is adamant that he’s right. I need some clarity on whether he can legally terminate his financial responsibilities by giving up his parental rights.
Has anyone here experienced something similar or have knowledge about Wisconsin laws regarding this?
He can’t just sign away his rights. He can choose not to be involved in the kid’s life, but he’ll still have to pay child support. Talk to a family lawyer and set up custody in court. If he doesn’t pay, they can garnish his wages and take from his assets if needed.
Just stop talking to him about it and let him believe what he wants. You don’t want to accidentally push him to leave the country before the baby is born. Once the baby arrives, you can take him to court. Since he’s not helping you during the pregnancy, there’s no need to communicate with him until then.
He used to be more involved, which really threw me off. After our chat today, I’m definitely keeping things to myself more. I doubt he can actually move since he doesn’t have any money or a passport, but I’m just curious about it. Right now, I’m trying to understand Sweden’s laws since he’s saying that’s where he wants to go.
Since he’s unwilling to take legal responsibility for the child voluntarily, you’ll probably need to go to court for a paternity determination once the baby is born. That’s when you can start pursuing child support.
You can’t just add him to the birth certificate without his cooperation or a court ruling on paternity. Until he’s officially recognized as the legal father, he doesn’t have any rights or obligations as a parent.
He can’t just sign away his rights.That said, when the baby is born and he tries to fight for custody to get back at you, keep this in mind.
It might be better to leave him off the birth certificate if that’s what he wants. He can always be added later, but once he’s on there, you can’t take him off.
He legally can’t just sign away his rights…BUT I’d strongly suggest giving your baby YOUR last name instead of your ex’s. Also, consider leaving him off the birth certificate for now. This is YOUR baby, not his. If he’s on the birth certificate, he’ll automatically have certain rights, like being able to pick up your child from daycare (unless you have a custody order), needing to grant permission for you to take your child out of the country, and more. It also makes it easier for him if he decides to be involved in your child’s life.
The only advantage to having his name on the birth certificate would be for child support. You can address that through the court later if it’s necessary.
Does he have ties to another country? A guy from Wisconsin probably doesn’t have resources to move and stay in another country, so I wouldn’t worry about this for now.
You’ll need to establish paternity as soon as the baby is born.
You can definitely get support from him. It’s not optional on his part. That said, I’ve seen many cases where a dad will disappear, only to suddenly want to be involved in the child’s life and demand 50/50 custody when he gets taken to court for support. You’ll have to decide if it’s worth the risk of dealing with someone who’s likely to be a bad parent and difficult to handle.
