Rights of Custody of an Unmarried Father

If the father is listed on the birth certificate (the child is declared by the father) the mother needs a Permiso de Salida de Menores subscribed by the father before the Notary Public, legalized at Procuraduria General. Remember, that a certified birth certificate of the child is needed for this.

All in all fails, you can turn to Departamento de Proteccion de Ninos, Ninas y Adolescentes at Procuraduria General.

daydream said:

Please can someone clarify the law in the Dominican Republic regarding rights of custody over children born to a non married couple. Do both the mother and father share rights of custody or is the right of custody solely on the mother, given that the couple are not married?

I think the mother and father have joint rights but just wanted to check.

I am aware that the Dominican Republic joined the Hague Convention earlier this year and I ask the above question in regard to the following scenario:

An unmarried couple who are living in the DR have a child together and they later split up - what rights does the father have in terms of custody of the child, if, say, the mother wished to leave the DR with the child?
I think that the father would have joint right to custody of the child and therefore could prevent the mother taking the child out of the DR (child abduction)......I believe that in order for the mother to be allowed to take the child she would either have to get a) the consent of the father or b) the consent of the court by proving that it was in the child's best interests.

I have another couple of questions off the back of the above - what proof do you need to show in order to claim that it's in the child's best interests? I think I remember reading somewhere that Dominican law states that children under 4 years of age should remain with the mother - however, does this still hold if the mother wants to take the child out of the country?

Just wanted to check whether my assumptions above are correct.

Thanks in advance
Daydream

Click to expand...

Had a friend with the exact same problem some years back...

He met this good looking girl in Santiago, they went out and had fun, too much fun...

After he came back and returned some months later they found out she was pregnant and he wasn't into getting married or anything of sorts and asked her to get an abortion if she so wanted not to have the child.
She said she wanted the kid and for him not to worry about it.

She gave birth and was listed in the BC as the only parent.
Later she met a nice younger man that fell in love with her, etc... And got married and he applied for her to come to the US, etc...

My friend used to visit her mother a lot and brothers(that's how they met) and since the child spend time there with "Abuelita" he got to know him better and took to him.

Some time later the US consulate provided the girl with a Temp residence to come to the US and the child's was still pending a little more due to medical tests and stuff to that effect.

My friend then asked the mom to allow him to be the custodial of the child and she said no cigar. He went to lawyers and all they did was take his money and invested into their pockets.

Court didn't give him any right other than if he wanted visitation rights he had to summit to a DNA test and be the target of past, present and future child support payments as the mother could under the law as soon as he was merited as the father...

He got wise quick and made friends with the mommy and new papi.

In short: Even if he was named in the BC as the parent he would have an uphill battle in the DR's Law to try and get the court to award him the full custody of the child... All he could do is pester for a while, until his money runs out or his lawyer becomes so rich off this case he moves to the Bahamas...