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He only has legal rights if you put him on the birth certificate OR if he takes a paternity test. You will NOT be able to collect child support from him if he isn't declared the father, but I'm sure you know this. The only way he will have legal rights is if he decides he wants something to do with the child and has a paternity test court-ordered. In that case there's nothing you can do about it, so just be prepared and be civil for the child's sake.

so what if the father refuses to be on the birth certificate can you still get child support?

if he refuses to be on birth certificate you can get a paternity test requested by a court in order to ask for child support, however y doing this, he can go to court and request (full!!!) custody if he wants the baby, and you will have to fight him in court o come to some kind of agreement on custody. This can be a long EXPENSIVE, painful process!

it's very very very unlikely that any court would give a father full custody of a newborn. Custody usually goes to the person who the child is most bonded with.. and since the mother has been around the child 24/7 since conception.. it's pretty obvious who's closest to the child. Plus babies need their mothers... especially if they b___stfeed! Now if you and your boyfriend lived together until the child was older... then that would complicate things and the father would be more likely to get custody.. although still unlikely to get full he might get closer to joint. Now with your situation... if he did want something to do with the child he would most likely only get visitation. Supervised in your home at first (because that's what's best for the baby) and after a couple months of frequent visitation he would be allowed to take the child for a few hours at a time. Then usually after the child is 1 year old he will get some overnight visits. (These are sort of standard guidelines... be warned that results may vary with certain judges and courts)