Legal rights to child.

System

Split from a thread in PI.
Local charter now applies.

Ezeoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122302545#Comment_122302545

There are four ways an unmarried father can acquire guardianship.

(a) Live with the mother and child.

(b) Statutory Declaration in agreement with the mother.

(c) Court Application

(d) Marriage to the child's mother.

Only one of the above has to be met to acquire guardianship. Full details here:

https://www.treoir.ie/information/guardianship-information/

witchgirl26

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122302566#Comment_122302566

How is it broken? I mean I think this is a good thing that a woman can't just put anyone on a birth cert & have them obtain the responsibilities of a child without their consent.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122302593#Comment_122302593

I mentioned all of them except the marriage one as I didn't think it would really apply in any way in this circumstance considering they are not together anymore & the child isn't even born.

Ezeoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122302633#Comment_122302633

Sometimes people get back together and marry later on!

It's rare, but it happens!

(eta) there are ways to add a father's name without consent, but that is for another thread.

Tippbhoy1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122302545#Comment_122302545

You seem to be misconstruing automatic rights post separation with legal rights, the latter which is what I am talking about and which is relevant to to the OP.

Name on the birth cert has no relevance to any of this. He has legal rights at a minimum that can be obtained via the courts, and in this circumstance he should absolutely exercise them if he wants access to his child.

At any point in time she can come back via the courts and look for maintenance, and possibly back pay. Nothing to do with a birth cert. Forget about that document it matters nothing.

witchgirl26

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122303684#Comment_122303684

No I'm really not. I'm unmarried with a child so I do understand it. Myself & the father are together but we did have to look into the whole thing when registering our child to ensure he had legal rights to the child.

If the father is not listed on the birth cert (which he can't be without his consent and signing a document unless they are married) he has no legal rights at all. And no unmarried father is granted automatic rights. The ways to obtain the legal rights are listed out but it does also involve proving paternity. The birth cert counts for a lot.

No she can't go back via the courts looking for maintenance if he's not on the birth cert as that is the first document they look at. And if she did want to later on in the childs life, the birth cert would have to be updated to reflect the fathers name.

Like I said along with another poster an unmarried father is not granted any automatic legal rights over a child unless:

He lives with the mother of the child for at least 12 months including 3 months after the child is born;

A statutory declaration that has to be signed by him and the mother;

A court application; or

Marriage to the mother.

That's it. There is no other way to get an legal rights to a child as an unmarried father.

Ezeoul

If the father is not listed on the birth cert (which he can't be without his consent and signing a document unless they are married) ….

Incorrect. It is possible to add the father's name without consent (I've done it), but as I said, that's for another thread, as it's not relevant to this discussion at the moment.

No she can't go back via the courts looking for maintenance if he's not on the birth cert as that is the first document they look at. And if she did want to later on in the childs life, the birth cert would have to be updated to reflect the fathers name.

Also incorrect. I've also done this.

OP, as has been said, there is nothing you can do right now, except wait until the baby is born, then you can get into the legalities if needs be.

(eta) if you do need to go to Court. it is free to represent yourself in the family court at district court level, where most of these matters are handled. A lot of people do (I did).

Also contact Treoir @ www.treoir.ie, by phone or on their website. They are a goldmine of information.

witchgirl26

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122312184#Comment_122312184

I was not referencing anything to do with my own relationship status.

And I don't see any other posters disagreeing with me on the point I made which was there are no automatic legal rights to the child as an unmarried father. Relationship status outside of that does not matter except in living arrangements which I mentioned.

As you proved with your last sentence. You had to go to court to get those legal rights. If you had been on the birth cert, that court course would have been presented differently as you wouldn't have had to establish paternity as it was established on the birth cert. That was part of the case, right? A paternity test. That was my point.

The OP has about 3-4 months to try to re-establish a working relationship with the mother (I don't mean get back together but be able to work together) & maybe avoid a court case around access if they could get to a point where is both on the birth cert & a statutory declaration. Making it all more civil hopefully to benefit the child.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122311332#Comment_122311332

When were you able to do this with the birth cert. Because when I registered my own child 6 years ago, my partner had to attend with me & he had to sign a document claiming the child as his own as part of it. I also had to sign to say that I was happy to include him as the father. From treor.ie

"The commencement of this Act will place a duty on unmarried parents to register the father’s name on the birth certificate of his child.

Following the commencement of this new legislation, if a mother attends without the father to register her child’s birth the Registrar will register the birth without a surname for the child and without the father’s details.  The mother will be asked for contact details of the father and the Registrar will then make ‘all reasonable efforts’ to contact the father and invite him to attend the Registrar’s Office within 28 days in order to complete the registration.  Only in exceptional cases, where ‘compelling reasons’ are provided, will the father’s name be omitted.

Read more in Treoir’s press release
See Civil Registration (Amendment) Act 2014"

So it's in place 10 years that you can't do this.

Ezeoul

From Treoir.ie (page last updated Dec 2022)