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Absent any agreement or court order, parents have an equal right to legal and physical custody of their children. In other words, there is nothing legally impeding either parent from exercising their decision-making authority or having physical possession of their children.

If you believe you are the father of a child, you can prove so to court with the aid of a paternity test. Once paternity has been established, you are entitled all parental rights including child custody and visitation. An experienced father's rights attorney can help with this process.

As per the North Carolina child custody law for unmarried parents, the birth mother has post-natal custodial rights and can refuse visitation to the biological father until his right to custody is established. To challenge this, the father can file paternity action for child visitation or similar custody rights.

In North Carolina, both unmarried parents have the same parental rights as married parents once paternity is established. In the time after the child's birth but before the parent(s) establish paternity, the mother has custodial rights.

In civil court You can file for child support on your own, with a lawyer that you retain, or the Division of Social Services (DSS) can file the child support case for you. Even if you file on your own, you can still get the help of DSS at a later point in the case.

If two parents cannot agree, the non-custodial parent may file a visitation complaint with the court to request increased visitation time. In some North Carolina districts, the court requires mandatory mediation for parents before the court decides on visitation issues.