MovieChat Forums > The Game Plan (2007) Discussion > Would Joe win the parent rights battle

Would Joe win the parent rights battle

posted 11 years ago by justinmacri2032
8 replies | jump to latest

What I mean is when Payton was in The hospital him and Karan argue on who she should be with but Joe may not know if you want your daughter to live with you you need a lot of info on the child and winning that in court takes nearly months to almost a year he only knew her for a month with no info on her medical condition so Karan is half right Joe maybe a father but to lawyers and a judge and with out Sara's paper work Joe was stuck am I right?

Bond James Bond

[–] mistyjewel 11 years ago

Absolutely not. As Joe pointed out, it's not his fault he doesn't know her well, since he was never told of her existence. So it's not like he abandoned her as a baby or was proven an unfit father; on the contrary, he's got more than enough financial means to provide for her plus the desire to take care of and get to know her. I'm assuming he has no criminal record either since nobody brought up anything, therefore, there is absolutely zero reason for a court not to award custody to him as the natural father, especially if Payton wants to be with him. After all she was only with her aunt for six months so it's not like she's raised her to this point.

Besides in the real world, legally with Joe on the birth certificate, upon Sarah's death the courts would have tracked him down first to see if he wanted custody before giving it to Karen.

So realistically, Joe would be awarded custody and they could work out visitation for her aunt...who (in my opinion) was pretty hypocritical with her "holier than thou" attitude cutting Joe down as a bad dad when SHE had NO IDEA where Payton even was for a freaking MONTH! Would it have been that hard to call the place she was supposed to be staying when she couldn't get Payton on her phone?!

[–] justinmacri2032 11 years ago

Well she wanted to meet her father

[–] kramsey20 10 years ago

Well she wanted to meet her father so she could manipulate him like an emotional puppet master

Fixed.

Being new to parenting is irrelevant. It doesn't change the fact that he damn near KILLED HER, so I'd say Joe is an unfit parent. Unfortunately while Karen isn't exactly on welfare and can afford good lawyers, Joe can afford better ones so any court battle would be decidedly in his favor. Though why anybody would fight to keep that evil sawed-off little twerp is beyond me. It's not like Peyton was poor and her life was terrible, she could afford freaking ballet lessons for God's sake.

[–] causewayking 10 years ago

Kramsey how did he damn near kill her. While he did not know of her allergy how would any parent know of an allergy until they had to deal with it. When I was young my parents didn't know of my allergy till I had a bad reaction to a medication.

Also, for the main post, being her biological father. If he wants to have her than he gets her. No court would rule against that.

To Boldly Go Where Phil Coulson Has Gone Before

[–] PaladinNJ (20310) 5 years ago

Actually since Sarah had sole custody, if she put Karen down as Payton's guardian in her will, there would have been no reason for the courts to try to contact Joe.

[–] PaladinNJ (20310) 5 years ago

Let me append that. If it came out after Sarah's death that Joe was unaware of her existence then maybe they would have contacted him.

[–] lcplthomasc 8 years ago

I think upon DNA testing, Joe would win in most states. My argument would be he should have "first rights of refusal" of accepting Peyton. In some states though, it wouldn't matter. If his name wasn't on the birth certificate, he'd have no rights, even with DNA. Sad deal...

[–] davidjanuzbrown 7 years ago

Joe would get his daughter. It's not just about money and Birth Certificates. It's about his willingness to settle down and put her first. That includes no more one night stands and having one woman ( Monique) who can be step mother to her. The kiss from both Joe and Monique to her at the end, shows that is what she will do: