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Understanding parental rights in Florida
Understanding parental rights in Florida

Understanding parental rights in Florida

On Behalf of | Dec 17, 2019 | Firm News |

According to the Florida Law Help, the laws of Florida recognize the mother as the primary guardian when couples get children out of marriage. A guardian means that they have the right to make any educational, medical, disciplinary and religious decisions regarding the child. Even if the mother names the father on the child’s birth certificate, the state of Florida may not provide him with any rights over the child. 

The father may only get legal rights similar to that of the mother if he marries the mother. By doing so, he will become the legitimate father to the child. However, the Legal Beatle indicates that if the mother and father do not marry, all parental rights remain with the mother meaning that she may choose to allow visitation rights to the child. It is not an obligation. She may decide to allow the visitation or not. Other than her, only a court order may bypass her decision regarding visitation. 

If the mother agrees for visitation to take place, she may put in place restrictions to the visitation. However, in an incidence where the father fails to return the child after a visit, it may become troublesome to get the child back. The police may not help the mother if the name of the father appears on the birth certificate of the child. To prevent such issues, the mother should ensure to place enough restrictions during the visitation, such as avoiding any visitation without a court order. She may choose as well to have the visitation occur in public places or her house. 

Since the laws of Florida recognize the mother as the primary guardian, if she has the child, she should be the one to receive child support from the legal father. To receive child support from the father, she has to file a paternity action and name the father legally. 

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