My daughters’ father and I were never married but were together for 9 years. I’m now looking to marry someone else who is in the military. I’m wondering if I can just take my daughter or does a custody agreement need to happen first?
You can take your daughter because there is no paternity determination, so you presently have the only rights. However, if you are talking about moving out of the area entirely, you might want to try to enter into a paternity, time sharing, and parental responsibility agreement so that you can file an uncontested paternity matter. If you leave, he might try to file and get you back here if he does it within six months of you leaving. The relationship of the father and your daughter is a huge factor. If he has been a father and been in your daughter’s life, the court could take that in consideration for her best interests in the relocation. Just because you were not married, and it seems like he didn’t file for paternity just not mean that his rights as a father are zero.