Do I have rights to a child’s custody if I was not married to the mother?

To receive paternal rights, which would allow you to take custody of the child, you would need to first establish paternity. When a child is conceived during a marriage, the husband is assumed to be the father. Otherwise, paternity must be established by either by signing an acknowledgment of paternity or obtaining an order of filiation from the court before custody and visitation rights can be addressed.