Legal Question in Family Law in Indiana

we need a solution to this as soon as possible

me and my exboyfriend just found out that we are going to have a baby the thing is i dont want him to have anything to do with the baby and he doesnt want anything to do with it either so i guess what my question is. is how legally can we get something wrote up so that i know he wont come back later wanting something to do with the child and how will he know i wont come after him for child support. we both agree on eachothers decisions to not go back on our words but having something legally wrote up would put our minds at rest


Asked on 1/23/02, 6:56 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Dorene Philpot Philpot Law Office

Re: we need a solution to this as soon as possible

Unfortunately, the law doesn't provide a provision for what you're asking.

You can effectively do it yourselves by never pursuing each other -- he never pursues contact and you never pursue support.

However, the court will not consider any type of agreement on no-pay, no contact binding on either of you.

Why is that? That's because child support is considered the CHILD'S right, and therefore cannot be legally dismissed by the mother. Now, you can CHOOSE not to collect support, but any agreement not to collect it would be invalid.

If he never establishes paternity, he doesn't have a right to see the child.

However, if he does establish paternity, and there's no valid reason to keep him from seeing the child, then a court would most likely order it if he pursued it later.

The other thing is that even if you don't try to collect support, if you ever receive state or federal benefits for your child, the government will make him responsible financially to reimburse it for any funds expended.

I hope this helps answer your questions.

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Answered on 1/24/02, 5:52 am


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