Hi, sgee23, and welcome to WebAnswers.

Although he does not have to see his son, he may want to in the future. More importantly, the son may want to be a part of his father's life, for which the father has no "right" to deny, because his son did not do anything to warrant being rejected by his father.

Your boyfriend's relationship with his ex should not be a reason to spite his own son.

So, what I would recommend is for him to seek visitation, now, because it will be much easier to do so with the child support hearing, then it will be later, especially if your ex does not plan to see his son anytime soon, or even if he doesn't plan on doing so ever. Once awarded, visitation is not a requirement, but not having that ordered now becomes more complicated, say, five or ten years down the road.

While he cannot possibly regret having visitation ordered, he may very well regret never having participated in his son's life.

Thank you for your question.

No, he does not have to take advantage of his visitation rights or make use of any access he has been granted to his child. No one can stong-arm him into being in the child's life if he doesn't want to be.

Clearly he may have his own reasons, but whatever they are it is unlikely that the child is the source of them. Moreover, he will miss out on so many things in his child's life (first words, first steps, etc.) and there will be no way to get those things back. Finally, a time will come when he may indeed want a relationship with this child, and he will be an utter stranger that the child may want nothing whatsoever to do with.

In short, while he doesn't have to be in the child's life, that child is here because of choices your boyfriend made. Whatever he may feel or have come to regret about those choices, he shouldn't blame or punish the child for it.