I've never heard of it...but I'm thinking if it is true..one explaination may be backlash towards all BF's because of so many deadbeat BF's who knock up GF and take off leaving her & child to fend for themselves...ei off the state.

But if that's the reason and in court you hammer home the point of how BF has stepped up and tries to be be involved with his child..as any married man would...dispit being denied his parental rights by the mother. He has supported his child financially ... as any father would..and it fathers/parents like him that that need support from the court...to know the state values and encourages responsible fatherhood...or words along that line.

I'm just running some ideas by you.......

Good Luck

This is all

Hi, I'm no expert on the subject by any means, but did some work once for a state awareness program trying to encourage and educate deadbeat dads, most of which were never married. I think most states really want to encourage unmarried men to take responsibility for their actions rather than run in the other direction as is typical in many cases. But regardless of how the state or county looks at it, it's really up to the judge. I agree with the case Lovin' Life makes, and I'd also get a good attorney who knows the judges and the system in your area. Good luck to you!

I don't think they will be any harder on him than if they'd been married, but this one you just can't predict. It isn't even jurisdictional, it's all dependent upon the personality and beliefs of whatever judge you get. For example, my husband's ex has three children by two fathers, same jurisdiction, same court, etc. However, the judge presiding over the case with my husband seemed very anti-father. He was basically the old fart type who felt that the mother should get whatever money she wanted and the father could go f___ himself, forget visitation. He would order visitation, but wouldn't enforce the order for visitation like he would the order for CS. Now the case with the other father has turned out very differently. He got a different, more modern and enlightened judge who was very pro joint custody, shared parenting, etc. He ended up with much more access to his child than my husband has to his children. (And it had nothing to do with background, as the other father was a confessed recovering cocaine addict and my husband was a career military man with absolutely no skeletons in his closet.) So it just depends on the judge. Your lawyer should have a pretty good idea about how the judge will rule based upon what the judge is "known for" and how the judge has ruled in similar cases.

~ Anne ~