Man impregnates woman. Unmarried couple has child. A few years into the relationship, woman suspects molestation, takes child to the doctor. Doctor can’t come up with definite evidence that would hold up in court, but says “something happened.” Woman dumps man. Man has no contact with woman or child. No visits, no support. It is as if he doesn’t exist.
Fast forward 10 years. Woman dies. Everyone knows where man can be found. Is anyone legally obligated to notify man of woman’s death (presumably so that he would begin raising his child)? How easy would it be for other family members to simply step in and raise the child, provided they were financially sound and would not need to apply for any sort of public aid to assist in her day-to-day upbringing?
Just a little bump here. I’m mainly interested in whether or not a person would be legally “In Trouble” for not attempting to notify the father of the mother’s death. As previously stated, this person’s whereabouts is known. He was never arrested or convicted – only suspected of crimes.
This sounds like a Woody/Mia scenario. Since the man obviously doesn’t want to have anything to do with the child and/or the mother, I’d say there is no need to contact him.
IANAL but having covered a few adoption cases for local media back in the day, including one in which there was an absentee but known father, in Wisconsin at that time (about ten years ago) there had to be numerous good faith attempts to notify the biological parent that there was pending legal action involving his parental rights. Before a child could be adopted conflicting parental rights had to be terminated. I assume that the law regarding notification has not changed substantially in the intervening years.