It is becoming more popular for unmarried couples to have children together, and this type of situation often creates the need to work out a child custody arrangement, if the couple splits. If you are in this situation and have a child with someone you are not married to or even dating, you may wonder what your rights are, and what the rights are of the other parent. Here are several things you should know.

Custody is often determined by who has the child right now

If you and the other parent of your child are fighting over custody of your child, it is important to know that custody rights are often based on and determined by who has the child right now. If you are the mom of the child and have the child living with you, you will likely get to continue having the child live with you; however, the father of the child might be entitled to visitation rights. For the father to get these rights, it might require going to court to get an order.

A father's rights are affected by the birth certificate

A second thing to understand is that when a custody battle is in effect for a child of unmarried parents, the court will give the father more rights, if his name is on the birth certificate. His name being on the birth certificate proves that he is the father, whereas a father's name that is not on the birth certificate would require extra work for this man to get custody rights or visitation rights. If the father's name is not on there, this man would have to prove paternity before the court would offer any rights to him for this child.

It is best to work together to create an arrangement

The best thing you can do in this situation is work together with the other parent to create an arrangement that would be best for the child. A child will typically be better off when he or she has both a mom and a dad. This is important to realize, if you are in a situation where the other parent wants rights to the child.

If you are currently in this situation and are not sure how to handle it, you should visit a family lawyer to learn more about your rights and responsibilities in this situation. He or she will be familiar with the laws surrounding such situations.