Vactioning out of state

[Concerned mom]

Jurisdiction

Tennessee

Hello,

I am needing some guidance as to what my child's biological rights are in our particular circumstance under TN state law.

Backstory:
My child's father has not seen his daughter since she was born. He was court ordered to take a paternity test, which came out positive, but has still denied that she is his daughter and has paid no child support her. He is not on her birth certificate or any of her legal governmental paper work, except for the paternity test results and the first request for child support made (I have not filed since as the court was unable to locate him in order to serve the paper work).

Issue:
Since this time my daughter and I have moved on with our lives. I am currently engaged, and my fiance is currently stationed in Texas as he is active duty military. Since he was not able to be here for my birthday, we have arranged for me to travel there for a weekend. We may need to bring my child and would like to know what the laws are regarding taking her out of state in this circumstance. We had originally planned for her to stay with family because of this particular concern, but they are unable to watch her- meaning she would have to come with me.

Any guidance or information in the matter would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ElleMD]

She is your daughter and you have full legal right be default to take her anywhere you please. As a practical matter and not that it matters as he would have to file in court to try and stop it, but if you can't find this dude to establish CS and visitation, he is never going to know you moved.

 

[SusanP]

She is your daughter and you have full legal right be default to take her anywhere you please. As a practical matter and not that it matters as he would have to file in court to try and stop it, but if you can't find this dude to establish CS and visitation, he is never going to know you moved.

Thank you for your response.

It would only be a four day trip, but he has been known to stalk my personal information simply to harass me on a personal level, yet does not disclose his location or make efforts to see his child.

I just want to make sure if she comes with me that there are no legal repercussions. I have heard of possible kidnapping charges for situations like this and want to be sure we are safe legally.

 

[ElleMD]

Nope, none. Now if you had a court approved parenting agreement that stated the other parent must consent to any out of state trips, that would be different. He has no specific rights simply because he is the legal father.

Now if down the road this fiancé becomes husband and stepdad wants to legally adopt the child, then yes, the legal father would need to be notified. There are ways of doing this without actually knowing his exact whereabouts or even seeing him.

 

[SusanP]

Nope, none. Now if you had a court approved parenting agreement that stated the other parent must consent to any out of state trips, that would be different. He has no specific rights simply because he is the legal father.

Now if down the road this fiancé becomes husband and stepdad wants to legally adopt the child, then yes, the legal father would need to be notified. There are ways of doing this without actually knowing his exact whereabouts or even seeing him.

Thank you!

Yes, that is the plan eventually. We are aiming to be married by the end of the year (depending on his military duties, it may be longer if we can't work around it), and would like to start proceedings in my fiancee legally adopting her. We are concerned though, as the father's license information apparently does not match his current residence, and he only works for cash meaning there is no trace of his employment.

Hopefully everything will go well and we will be able to proceed once the time comes.

Thank you for your help!