Fathers rights in abandoned child

Good day atty, first of all i'm very thankful to find out your website and assisting peoples like me in this cases. May you continue your goal in helping persons. God Bless

My case is this, My gf and i is not married, we had a 4year old daughter, 4months ago my gf left us here in the PH to migrate in US with her mom, after that a series of break up happens to us then she decided to finally finish our relationship seeing her new life in there, here goes the childs custody matters, they we're planning to get my daughter as soon as possible but aprox from this month it will take a year for them to finish the processing of the papers, i had in my hand the passport, bcertificate etc of my daughter, i had also with me my daughter, i wanted to know how far is my rights on my daughter which is also under my surname, somebody told me that i can file a sole custody of my daughter under a court for my her mother abandoning her for 6months from the day she left us because actually i didn't receive any financial assistance from her for my daughter, in terms of financial i'm quite sure that i can provide her needs because i'm working right now in a well paid job, i don't have any third party or whatever. also i'v read it the US EMBASSY website that there is a two parent signature policy for my daughter for her to go out of the country, does my rights being a father to her can hold her not going outside of the country? gusto ko po sana malaman kung my laban ako in this scenario. thanks in advance attorney

anu po sa tingin nyo?

i don't know what the policy of the US govt is regarding this, but I've heard that if the consent of the other parent cannot be acquired, the remedy is to merely file an affidavit that the parent is sole custodian.

the mother of an illegitimate child has sole parental authority and right to custody, but she has to be with the child to exercise it.
if your objective is to maintain custody over the child, then you have to gear up for a legal fight.

i do recommend that you be the one to file a petition for custody and guardianship and even better adoption. that way you can request the court to issue a hold departure order over your child while the case is pending. i recommend you do it now while the mother is not here and make it costly for her to fight this out.

note that if the mother comes here, my money will be on her to eventually win the case. or even if you initially win, she can file her own action to modify the ruling because custody cases never achieve finality. but that's the value of the case for you, to keep her here.

i do not recommend that you simply deny her custody. she has many remedies ranging from filing a petition for habeas corpus to a case of kidnapping against you.

so you think attorney my chances of having the custody of my daughter is very low? i mean i also should consider the financial expenses that i would be needing, the trauma that will affect in my daughter, the effect that they will not let me even talk to my daughter if they win the case because i'm the one who started the fight legally? i just wanted to know if my case has a chances to win or it is just a suntok sa buwan, as much as i wanted to have my daughter with me if my chances are very low i might just accept our law that my gf has the full custody on my daughter, what do u think po

if only on the legal merits, yes. BUT if your legal strategy is correct, and executed properly, you can be able to keep your child while the case is pending which may take YEARS.

You will also be challenging the mom to give up her life in USA to deal with the case.

"you can be able to keep your child while the case is pending which may take YEARS. "

attorney please correct me if im wrong, tama po ba na gaya nang sinasabi nyo skin, IT WILL TAKE YEARS, and if the case will reach the 7th year old age of my daughter where in she can decide whom to choose then im sure my daughter will pick me? and for my ex-gf to be able to continue to fight on the case she might quit her US life para dumalo sa mga patawag ng korte and everything tama po ba?

with regards naman po sa first step that im planning to do is, i'v heard from a friend about the child abandonment for six straight months sa ilalim po ng local na pamahalaan under sa munisipyo namin, if ever po ba na makakuha ako nito sa munisipyo pwede po ba na i-raise ko ito sa higher court for me to have a court order of the sole custody of my child? since sigurado ko po naman na for 2012 pa ung pinaka maagang uwi na ex-gf ko dito sa pilpinas so if i will be granted of the sole custody pag uwi nya d2 tska na lang nya malalaman at tska na lang sya mag file ng reklamo at saka kami magharap sa korte tama po ba ako?

or merun po bang tamang paraan na pagfifile ng child abandonment over a legal court for me to have a court order of a sole custody sa anak ko para pagdating ng ex-wife ko eh my panghahawakan ako na hindi nya pwede makuha sakin ung bata hanggat hindi sya nananalo skin sa korte which may take years gaya po ng sabi ninyo?

Atty?

the proper court to file the petition is the family court where the child lives. you will have to name the mother as a respondent and she will be notified at her last known address.

the ultimate solution for you is to file for adoption of your child and allege abandonment. there is a thread in pinoyexchange.com titled legal matters for single parents. read how the thread starter did it, but in that case, the mother did not appear at all.

yes, make it costly for her to fight this. the '7" years old is not really relevant. remember as illegitimate father, you do not have custody rights in the first place.