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Question: Is there a law for prenatal abandonment in Florida?
Answer:
In Florida, failing to provide support while the mother is pregnant is not grounds to terminate parental rights. A paternity action to establish parental rights can only be filed after the minor child is born. Because it’s required that a name and a date of birth and a place of birth be included in a uniform custody jurisdiction and enforcement act affidavit. Without a name, date of birth, and place of birth a case can’t be filed in Florida. In the event that a paternity case is filed, after the birth of the child, the mother can seek reimbursement for medical bills incident to the pregnancy in the same way as which retroactive child support could be sought. Florida is generally a no fault state and therefore him blackmailing you may not have an incredible amount of remedy. However, if he is a drug user, and his poor behavior in blackmailing, and other aggressive type behavior could be analyzed by the Court as a reason to not have shared parental responsibility.
It sounds like the best thing you can do at this time is make sure that you are safe and away from him. The father has no legal rights to a minor child in the state of Florida until he files a paternity case and gets a court to order that he is first the legal father of the minor child and second has parental responsibility and slash or timesharing. Legally, the mother of a child born when the parties are not married is in the custody of only the mother.
Attorney Erin E. Morse