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What would happen if my girlfriend got pregnant and gave birth to our child? Who would get custody of our child? How much child support would I have to pay? Would either of us have to drop out of school? What are the worst-case and best-case scenarios? I read the Indiana Parenting Guidelines, and they said that, to start off the first year or so, the non-custodial parent only gets one night per week.

Ideally, I want to split parenting responsibilities like my parents did. But she said that all her life she wanted to be a stay-at-home home school mom like her mom was. What if she quits school and her job to stay at home, will I have to financially support our family all by myself? What if I lose my job, do I have to go to court to lower child support? What if one of us moves to a different state? What if we get married? What if we get divorced? Will I have to pay alimony? What if I go crazy or flee the country? I feel scared, and I am looking for honesty and reassurance. I am also starting to see the value of abstinence (if it's not already too late).

Update: In order to narrow down the scope, my question is: How can we set up shared earning/shared parenting marriage in our situation?

T.J.L.
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Dan Salvay
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    You are asking a lot of questions, many of which have nothing to do with the law. I suggest you narrow the scope of this question significantly. – mikeazo Jun 24 '16 at 17:56
  • You can delete paragraph 2 completely, it's unneeded information. – Insane Jun 24 '16 at 18:00
  • @Insane I guess you're right, so I deleted the second paragraph to narrow down the question. – Dan Salvay Jun 24 '16 at 18:48
  • @mikeazo You're right, I was asking too many questions which have nothing to do with family law. I posted an update to narrow down my question. – Dan Salvay Jun 24 '16 at 18:51
  • I'm not arguing that this should be closed as a request for legal advice (but you do need professional legal advice). You should rephrase the question to be narrowly about a specific legal issue, such as "does the father have a child support obligation if he is not married to the mother", or something. This is too broad, so I would start by assuming that you don't get married (I assume you know what happens if you do get married). – user6726 Jun 24 '16 at 18:53
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    @DanSalvay I think you should probably start using a condom because putting it on at the last second really makes no difference, in fact kind of is annoying vs doing it at the beginning. – Insane Jun 24 '16 at 18:55
  • @user6726 In response to your comment, I am working on revising my question again. – Dan Salvay Jun 24 '16 at 19:18
  • @user6726 I rewrote the question with a narrower scope at the following location: http://law.stackexchange.com/questions/11177/what-can-a-father-do-to-become-the-primary-caregiver – Dan Salvay Jun 24 '16 at 20:21
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    My initial gut reaction to the question was "she'd have a baby, miscarry, or have an abortion." But, that would be a biology question and not a legal one. – ohwilleke Jan 11 '18 at 10:01

1 Answers1

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From the legal perspective, the most important step is establishing legal paternity. IN Code 16-37-2-2.1 covers the process of establishing paternity via affidavit, which has to be executed in a prescribed and timely manner and with cooperation by both parties. Paternity can also be established by court action (very complex). With legal paternity established, then in terms of parental rights and responsibilities, it is immaterial that you are not married. If you don't live together, then the question of custody and visitation, and child support, would need to be resolved (with a lawyer involved).

This article surveys the situation with Indiana Law w.r.t. unwed fathers (see especially section III), though most of it is about the situation where actual paternity is distinct from legal paternity.

user6726
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