My boyfriend was in your exact situation (before I knew him) and believe me there is plenty you can do now to save yourself a lot of heartache.
First, get a family law attorney and do NOT sign any parenting agreement without having your lawyer involved in it. There are great parenting plans on this site that you can use as a starting point.
Have your lawyer get all your paperwork ready so that the second that baby is born you can petition the court for time with your child. I believe you can even get a blood sample at the time of birth for DNA testing to establish paternity. Arrange it ahead of time.
In your parenting plan, do not settle for anything that is vague. e.g. "Father will have liberal visititation" or father will start overnights with the child between 12-18 months. etc. If its vague then she doesn't have to do anything and you will just spend money in court over and over.
Document everything you do. And I mean everything. One of the biggest mistake my boyfriend made was not documenting. Document every conversation you have, record her conversations if you can, document every dollar you give her for anything and make sure you pay child support (sorry you have to do this no matter what). Document every visit you have with the child, what you did, what he ate, diapers changed. Everything. Do everything you can to be involved with the child EARLY ON. Do not wait whatever you do.
Take a parenting class NOW. Don't wait until the child is born.
You have a right to start having unsupervised visits with this child immediately, on a regular basis including overnights. Exercise this right immediately and go to court if you have to to get it. If you create a status quo situation in which the mother is doing most of the parenting from the start, you are immediately at a disadvantage.
Don't expect to change the parenting agreement that you sign later. That was the mistake my boyfriend made. The woman tricked him into signing something and she told him it could all change later when the child was a year old. Now he is trying to get more time and she won't let him. So now he as to go to court and the burdon is on him to prove a substantial change in circumstance.
I only wish that we had known about this website before the child was born like you do. Use this website for information. She cannot do what she is telling you so do not believe her! You do have a right to see your child and the court will support you in this right but you must have your act together early on.
It was only after having this situation happen to us and coming to this site that I became ashamed of woman everywhere for this kind of treatment of the fathers of their children. Good luck to you.
First, get a family law attorney and do NOT sign any parenting agreement without having your lawyer involved in it. There are great parenting plans on this site that you can use as a starting point.
Have your lawyer get all your paperwork ready so that the second that baby is born you can petition the court for time with your child. I believe you can even get a blood sample at the time of birth for DNA testing to establish paternity. Arrange it ahead of time.
In your parenting plan, do not settle for anything that is vague. e.g. "Father will have liberal visititation" or father will start overnights with the child between 12-18 months. etc. If its vague then she doesn't have to do anything and you will just spend money in court over and over.
Document everything you do. And I mean everything. One of the biggest mistake my boyfriend made was not documenting. Document every conversation you have, record her conversations if you can, document every dollar you give her for anything and make sure you pay child support (sorry you have to do this no matter what). Document every visit you have with the child, what you did, what he ate, diapers changed. Everything. Do everything you can to be involved with the child EARLY ON. Do not wait whatever you do.
Take a parenting class NOW. Don't wait until the child is born.
You have a right to start having unsupervised visits with this child immediately, on a regular basis including overnights. Exercise this right immediately and go to court if you have to to get it. If you create a status quo situation in which the mother is doing most of the parenting from the start, you are immediately at a disadvantage.
Don't expect to change the parenting agreement that you sign later. That was the mistake my boyfriend made. The woman tricked him into signing something and she told him it could all change later when the child was a year old. Now he is trying to get more time and she won't let him. So now he as to go to court and the burdon is on him to prove a substantial change in circumstance.
I only wish that we had known about this website before the child was born like you do. Use this website for information. She cannot do what she is telling you so do not believe her! You do have a right to see your child and the court will support you in this right but you must have your act together early on.
It was only after having this situation happen to us and coming to this site that I became ashamed of woman everywhere for this kind of treatment of the fathers of their children. Good luck to you.